Ironman 70.3 Gulf Coast

Background

To kick off my third triathlon season, I signed up for a trip to Panama City Beach. I have been coming to this beach since I was six years old.  I was excited to return to my favorite vacation destination but this time for an Ironman event!

This season’s primary goal is to finish an Ironman 70.3 in under six hours. I’ve raced three of them so far – all in hot weather, and each time I flamed out (no pun intended) on the back half of the run.

For Gulf Coast 70.3, I had two goals.

The first: leave it all out there and see how I stack up as the season begins. With last season’s focus being on a full Ironman, it’s been 11 months since I raced at this distance. If I crack six hours, awesome! If I don’t, that’s okay too! I’ll have a good idea of what work is left to get there.

The second: I want a complete and successful run. I have a bit of a hard time defining what that means. It’s more of a “know it when I see it” type of thing. I didn’t have a specific time in mind. Instead, it was more about finishing each of the 13 miles strong, hopefully in a negative split. No flameouts that lead to a bunch of walking this time around!

Coming into race week, I also tried to take a step back and appreciate where I am in my training. 

I still consider myself new to this sport, but these are very different goals compared to my first 70.3 in Chattanooga in my first season. I remember being terrified I wasn’t physically capable of finishing. I’ve come a long way in the last two race seasons (and that pesky pandemic year). There is plenty of work ahead, but I don’t want to lose sight of how things have progressed.

Pre-Race

Katy and I set off for the beach on Thursday morning. The plan was to arrive by 5 p.m. for the athlete briefing. Friday, I’d drop the bike off and relax. Saturday, the alarm would be set at 3:30 a.m. for an early start at 5:40 a.m. swim into the Gulf of Mexico.

We drove in on the bike course. I’m familiar with FL-79, having driven it to the beach for literally the last *31* years of my life, but I’d never thought about biking on it!

I took a shower and then prepared everything for race day. After that, the only thing left to do was relax! With a break in the rain, Katy and I headed to the beach. However, we could only enjoy the views for about 45 minutes before more storms arrived.

Everyone has until 5 p.m. to drop off their bikes in transition. I like to drop mine early in the day so there’s one less thing to worry about.

However, Ironman sent out a push alert to athletes that if you were in the area to find shelter. A few minutes later, the National Weather Service placed us under a severe thunderstorm warning. About 15 minutes after that, a tornado warning went out for half of the bike course, but fortunately, not for where we were.

Had the race been a day earlier, we all could have been biking through a tornado warning. FL-79 has no shelter, and it’s a flat road surrounded by pine trees. It’s crazy to think about, and I have no idea what might have happened. 

While the worst of the storm stayed north of Panama City Beach, what hit the coast was bad enough!

There were dozens and dozens of bikes already checked into transition when this storm arrived. The area was a mess – porta-potties toppled over, bike racks fell down, and a few athletes posted in the Facebook group that the damage was bad enough that they couldn’t race. I can’t even imagine how they felt.

Some people were pissed, but I don’t hold any ill will towards Ironman. I don’t know what they could have done. To their credit, they moved every single bike under the Edgewater Resort since there were more storms to come. As you might have guessed, bike check-in was canceled entirely. Now we were bringing everything on race morning.

By late afternoon, the storms had passed, and Katy and I went back out to the beach. The weather was better, but the usually calm Gulf of Mexico looking more like the Atlantic Ocean - an uncomfortable sight knowing I had to dive in soon. I tried to tell myself the surf would calm over the next 12 hours now that the storms had cleared.

I ate dinner, set my alarm for 3:30 a.m., and drifted off to sleep.

Race Morning

As usual, I woke up before my alarm. I was moving by 3:15 a.m. I had a brief moment to chuckle at how ludicrous this hobby is – 3:15 a.m. is not “up early.” It is literally the middle of the night.

Katy woke up around 4 a.m. to sherpa me a few miles down the street to the race site. Without a bike check-in the day before, there was a LONG line to get into transition.

As I stood there, I noticed the National Weather Service had issued a rip current statement. I dismissed it to be honest. Having lived in Florida for five years, those are pretty common. I still expected to swim.

But then everyone’s phones went off. 

The swim was canceled. ☹️

We’d be starting the race as a time trial with the bike ride. It would be two athletes every five seconds, in the order of when we checked in at registration. It was no longer a 70.3 triathlon, but now a 69.1 duathlon.

Another wrinkle: I’d also be starting later in the day. I had planned on a 5:40 a.m. start nutritionally. Now I’m looking at an extra hour of waiting. The last thing I wanted to do was get thirsty or hungry.

I sat and waited until around 7 and watched the sun come up over transition. It looked like it was going to be a nice day.

Swim

Fastest swim of my life!

Transition 1

My swim was so fast that there was nothing to transition from!

Bike

I’ve never had a swim canceled at a triathlon of any distance. The time trial start was new to me, but generally uneventful. I hated the idea of two athletes starting every five seconds. I was spooked that I wouldn’t be able to get started quickly enough or not be able to get my saddles to clip in. But all was well.

This course is one of the flattest in the Ironman circuit. It’s the Florida panhandle, after all. We biked through Panama City Beach and then headed north on FL-79. The only hill on the entire ride is actually a bridge as we go over the intracoastal waterway. I quickly forgot about the hill as I soaked in the fantastic views. 

The first 30 miles were pretty terrific! I averaged around 21 mph. I noticed my power output was a bit higher than I usually like to have it. But physically, I felt good and decided to bike by feeling more than the power meter. Maybe my FTP had increased during the offseason!

As I entered the second hour, I was disappointed I wasn’t going faster. It sounds stupid even to type this, but I was sad that I was on pace to break my bike PR for this distance by “only” 15 minutes.

I have a bad habit of underappreciating my wins and focusing on my losses instead. Rather than being ecstatic about how the ride was going, I was getting on myself for not making it even better…and frankly unrealistic.

As I wrestled with that internal mental battle, the course turned west. Suddenly I forgot all about my time. I had headwinds to battle. The next 10 miles or so were rough. We headed west from FL-79 to Powell Lake and the Walton County line. It’s the strongest headwind I’ve ever cycled into during a race. It was frustrating to look at my power meter, see what I was churning out, and only be moving along around 15 mph. On the bright side, I wasn’t hot with all that wind blowing into me!

I hit the turnaround, cleared the headwind section, and let it rip for the last 15 miles back to transition. I was still on track for my fastest 70.3 bike time ever. I got there and set a PR! I began to dismount and placed my left foot on the ground.

And then, crash.

Transition 2

Somebody behind me lost control of their bike at the dismount line. He hit me and knocked me over. I was suddenly lying on the asphalt on my left side. My bike was on top of me because my right foot was still clipped into my pedal.

I’m quite fortunate only to have a few minor scratches – same goes for the bike. If he hits me at a different angle or if both my feet are still clipped in? I could be looking at anything from a busted bike to broken bones to a blown ACL.

A volunteer came running over and helped me stand up. Somebody else brought me one of my bottles and a tube repair kit that flew off my bike during the crash. When I saw how far that stuff scattered in the parking lot, I was like shit, this was not just a simple fall. They asked if I was OK. Honestly, I didn’t quite know! I wasn’t sure if I was actually OK or if I was still in that haze before my body realized there was an injury.

I knew I was good enough to get the bike into transition and away from other cyclists coming in. My first priority was just getting out of the way, and then I’d assess things.

I took a minute to collect myself. It’s jarring to be in any kind of bike accident, especially right at the end of a 70.3 course! But I seemed to be mostly unscathed and more mentally shaken than anything else.

I don’t think I’ve ever written more words about a transition in a race report, and I’d rather not do it again!

Run

It’s always hard to transition from cycling to running, even if somebody hasn't just crashed into you. It took me about the first half mile to mentally let it go and just focus on the task at hand.

But I pulled it together! I’m really proud of this. I realized I was physically OK to run. I arrived at the first aid station, which came early around 0.75 miles in. Things felt a lot better after some Gatorade, Coke, and chips!

Most of the run course is three loops, each about 4 miles. It’s almost all paved roads, entirely flat, and completely exposed to the sun. Flat is great, but the sun beat me down last June during Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge. I learned my lesson and spent the back half of the 2021 season focusing on learning how to run in the heat and humidity.

I got towards the end of the first loop feeling great. I saw Katy near the pier and yelled out “TWO MORE!” I’d shaken off being rattled by the crash. Seeing her gave me a boost too. I realized I only had about 9 miles to go and felt great!

The only thing that had me mildly worried is that when I flame out on the runs in these Ironman events, it has happened quickly. Last May in Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga, I hit mile 6 feeling awesome, and by mile 7, I was down to a run-walk.

But I told myself once I got through the second lap, I’d have just four miles left, and even if I was tired, I could get through that. So, if I got through the second lap, I was basically done. Triathlon logic, right?

I saw Katy again, screamed out “ONE MORE TIME!” and kept going. As I started the third and final loop, I still felt great. It was only by about 10 seconds or so, but it was still a negative split compared to the first two laps! I tried to thank all the volunteers who I’d now seen three times, saw Katy a third time, and headed for the red carpet.

It wasn’t particularly fast by running standards on its own. I’ve run the much hillier ATL Half Marathon almost 25 minutes quicker than today’s run time. But given that the run started with a bike crash, I’m thrilled with how it went. It felt like a complete run. I managed the sun well, my nutrition went smoothly, and my pace averaged around 10:30/mile minus walking through the aid stations. It’s a far cry from my first 70.3, where I walked the final six miles after hitting a wall. It’s not as fast as I want to be, but things are trending in the right direction!

This is also a PR for a run on a 70.3 triathlon course!

Post-Race

I had been so focused on forgetting the bike crash and getting through the run, I actually forgot what awaited me at the end. It feels incredible to reach the finish line of an Ironman event.

Little about this race went to plan, but it was amazing.

Ironman events usually take place on Sundays, but this one has always been on a Saturday. With a rare opportunity for a Chick-fil-A visit after the race, I had to take it.

In closing, let me declare how obnoxious it was for the Gulf of Mexico to be SO FREAKING CALM on the morning after. It looked like a dang lake on Sunday morning.

Next Steps

Not much time to rest! In just two weeks, Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga awaits! We’ll see how that day goes, but my quest for a sub-6 half Ironman will likely have to wait.

I have a third 70.3 at the end of the season in Augusta, Georgia. Everything I do in terms of training this summer will have that as the single primary focus. Hopefully, it’ll be extremely motivating!