I arrived in Florida several days before the big event.  In order to do what my coach told me, I didn’t use any air conditioning and overdosed on nuun tablets.  After putting my bike together, I went on a lovely ride through the the charming town of Kissimmee Florida to check that everything was operating properly.    What a dump.  It’s like driving in an endless loop of fast food joints – Denny’s , Shoney’s, McDonalds, IHOP, repeat.  It’s a good thing that I had a very specific purpose for my being there and somehow managed to find a decent diner to have breakfast in.  (Rodeo Diner).

My coach showed up a few days later and we decided to check out the expo which was located in Fort Wilderness, Disney.  What better place to accomplish a goal… After all, it’s Disney World – Where dreams come true.

On the bus to the expo we saw people of all shapes and sizes who were also, no doubt, looking forward to accomplishing something… and if you can show off with a cute riding shirt, then you’re really getting you’re money’s worth.  My brief anthropological experiment on the bus to the expo revealed that adult males who compete fall into one of two categories; the good ones who bring their family to Disney and the other ones.  I’m sure that the Disney shops were stormed with people buying compensation gifts for their kids.  Coming back from an Atlanta business trip empty handed is one thing but coming back from a race in Disney World with no gifts has to be the worst thing a dad can do.

We came back to the expo again the next day to have our bikes looked at and place them in transition.  We also had lunch on site where I predicted my state of mind during the race disciplines on a restaurant napkin using my illustration method of choice – stick figures.

I don’t know the answers to the following questions :

1. Why do your hands get shorter for the bike and longer for the run?
2. Why didn’t you put your hair in your bathing cap?
3. Why did you head get bigger?
4. Where did your hair go during the run?
5. Why is your hair standing at the finish line?

If you have questions other than these, I’ll be happy to answer.

To prepare for the big day, I had to get all of my equipment in sorted and nutrition planned out.  (Note: All of my nutrition comes from Sport Quest Direct, GU and nuun).  I had two water bottles with two scoops of Carbo-Pro in each and nuun in one of them, a cliff bar and two gels on the bike, two gels for the run, Thermolyte for every leg of the race (salt), VO2Max pills before the race, Recover during the bike phase and before the entire race, and some motivator pills just in case.  Oh… and don’t forget the Babba for good luck.

We woke up at 3:15AM, Breakfast at 3:30AM and arrived at transition at around 5:15AM.  I got marked with my number and organized my important stuff in transition (Babba too).  I recalled the first time that I did this in the women’s triathlon in Israel. For all intents and purposes, I was a monkey imitating the other girls lay out their towel, shoes, sunglasses, etc.  Now I already knew where everything went and how I like things to be laid out.  Others will be mimicking me in a few weeks during my third women’s triathlon in Israel.

My wave started at 7:00AM.  My coach, Sharone, already left at 6:50 and I had my dad with me to cheer me on and wish me good luck at the start line.  Everyone is nervous but not everyone shows it, especially when there are just a few minutes remaining until the start.  The gun was fired and I knew that the finish line was the furthest it will be throughout the entire race.  Makes sense, I know, but this is what you think about when you start new things.

The swim took 42:12 (35/79 in category).  I got kicked in the face once and even got an apology.

The bike took 2:52 (33/79 in category).  It was as flat as a pancake and I kept a good steady pace, averaging 19.5MPH.  During one u-turn, there was a man who must have rode too fast and his face was full of blood.  The volunteers were shouting “Slow down, there is a man down” or translated it would be “Slow down to see what could happen to you if you don’t”.

The run took 2:04 (22/79).  This time includes a bathroom break in the woods (Desert style) and stopping for a few seconds at each and every aid station.  This must have been the most significant because my total place was 23/79 in my category which means I’m in the first 30% of the finishers.

My stick figure napkin masterpiece was completely wrong.  I felt good the entire race.  I had a good pace on the bike and my workouts really payed off. Not to mention, I had a great coach without whom I couldn’t have felt this good during the race.  Now I’m sure you have a few questions.  Here are the answers :

1. I don’t know when.  It takes a lot of training to do a full ironman and I need to figure out where I’m headed before I commit to something like that.
2. Eww… I’m not even going to answer that.
3. Yes, I’m in Israel now.
4. My next one is the Women’s triathlon in Herzlia, Israel.
5. 1834.  You have to be an idiot not to know that.

Now to Italy for a cycle vacation! I will attempt to record all of my routes during this trip and report back to y’all.

12►