Task: Complete Ironman Brazil, 2.4 mi swim under 2hr 30min, bike 112 miles before 10hr 40 min, and 26.2mi completed before 17hr.

Conditions: Swim in very salty water, high waves, cross current, and giant swells. Bike in 76 degree 0 cloud cover, high winds, and several “Oh Lord� hills.

Standard: Just finish the race and get your M-dot.

Ironman Brazil triathlon was well run, and on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 9.5 on organization. It was a very tough Ironman, don’t believe the hype on it being Iron-virgin friendly!
I started my morning @ 0200 with a jar of baby food, Nature valley chewy trail mix bar, and 12 oz of Acceralade. I went back to bed and arose @ 0400. I got all my stuff ready to go and ate a piece of wheat toast as I made my way to the bus.

I arrived at the race venue around 0445, got my body marked and started putting calories on the bike and getting my fuel belt ready. Once complete with that I had nothing else to do other than drink water and think. A guy I meet in the airport named Jimmy from Key West, FL told me to sit down and relax, cause I would worry myself silly.

SWIM: It is time to go to the swim site, everyone’s eyes practically jumped out of their heads because the Lagoon was in a rage, waves were crashing to the shore, which it hadn’t been the last 2 days when everyone was swimming. The horn goes off, and I wait about 2 minutes before starting the swim. I couldn’t see jack or ****, and the waves were making me sicker by the stroke. I was just praying to make the 1st lap, and I did in 48 minutes. By this time several Iron-athletes had pulled themselves from the race because of stomach problems, I guess they got seasick like any normal person would in water like that. I drank a cup of water then started on my second lap, same problem, couldn’t see nothing, I began to get fatigue, I had never swam longer than 3km in my life, plus these conditions could not be replicated in training. So I had to think of something to get me angry so I could power thru this, I thought of something that happened right before I left to come to Brazil. What happened was my boss said I wasn’t a team player because I didn’t run on the Battalion’s 10km team. That pissed me off because he didn’t take into consideration all the time I had put in to do the Ironman, but insisted I didn’t want to play because I was selfish. Well never the less it got me fired up to finish the 2nd lap. I came out of the water in 1hr 47.53 minutes.

BIKE: One of the selling points for Ironman Brazil is that it is a so-called fast race, WRONG; the winds were soo bad the pro that won last year participated this year and his time was 30 minutes slower. I spoke to the oldest Ironman at 75 years of age Winston M. Allen, who has completed Ironman Kona 11 times, and he said “this was the hardest race I have done, the bike course was BRUTAL, anyone who completed the race today can complete Kona without a problem�. I had a plan for the bike the 1st 30 miles hydrate and eat, 2nd 30 maintain a steady pace, see how I feel the rest and possibly pick up my pace. My goal pace was 16 mph finish the bike in 7 hours, once I made the turn to come back I knew that goal was a bridge too far, because the winds were so high and the majority of the hills were on this portion of the course. My feet were killing me and my back was throbbing but wasn’t hurting bad enough to stop. I finished the bike in 7 hr 18 min 43 sec.

RUN: As the day unfolded it is now 1600 hours and it is time to run 26 miles, I don’t know about the rest of you but, I don’t know too many people who like to run marathons, and running one after being in the sun for 7 hours was really making me an unhappy camper. My feet were already hurting from them damn bike shoes which never happened in practice (go figure) and my existing aggravated hamstring started hurting from the 1st step of the marathon. I tried to visualize something positive other than finishing the Ironman because at this point and time I didn’t want to hear the word Ironman. I walked all the steep hills, which I was thinking what a__hole thought to put such steep hills on this route. My plan was be done by 2200, that meant that I had 6 hours to complete the marathon, I finished the run in 5hr 5 min 28 sec.

Conclusion: My advice to Ironman want-a-be’s- Do Swim/bike bricks these workouts are not usually in your workout books, but I would advise doing them. Just think your body is parallel for an hour plus, then you jump on a bike for seven hours, it takes some adjusting to just the same as bike/run bricks

Nutrition on the run, I did a poor job of practicing this in training and it showed during the race. Had I had a plan for this I would have ran under 5 hours. I blew it off in training because I’m a good runner but the truth is no matter how good of a runner you are you aren’t half as good after swimming 2.4 miles, and biking 112 miles.

Proper bike fit: I did numerous hours of riding on my bike; I had it packed to come to Brazil. Make sure the guys who pack your bike full-proof mark your bike so the next idiot who puts it together, puts it back together the way it is suppose to be or you’ll be cursing at yourself for 112 miles because you were a moron and didn’t check.

I’m very proud of my accomplishment prior to my deployment to Iraq, I wish I had more time to train properly but the goal was to become an Ironman, so mission accomplished and now I can spend time where I have been neglecting it for the past several months.