Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Report
Jan 2024
Here’s what happened before, during and after my first half ironman.
On December 10th, 2023, I raced Ironman Florida 70.3, my first ever half Ironman. That’s a 1.2mi swim, 56mi bike and 13.1mi run. Completing this race was the hardest thing I have ever done. Here’s how it went.
2 Days Before the Race
We arrived in Florida late Friday night (December 8th, 2023). Earlier that whole day I was rushing to finish my final exams, pack and re-pack everything 3 times, and catch my flight.
It was a long wait for a car rental and subsequent drive. I traveled with one of my friends, Jack, from the Yale triathlon team. He had already done multiple full Ironmans and was WAY more experienced than I was. I am so, so lucky I went with him because he actually knew what he was doing (unlike me).
1 Day Before the Race
On Satuday, we woke up, had breakfast, reassembled our bikes (you have to take them apart to travel), and drove to Ironman Village. Walking around it for the first time was a crazy feeling. Everyone else there was super fit and intimidating, but the atmosphere was soooo exciting and I was practically jumping, thinking to myself “I can’t believe I’m here, and all of this is for me!! I’M one of the athletes about to do this crazy thing!”
We checked in our bikes, and then I walked out onto the beach, saw the lake where the swim was going to be, and all that confidence was very quickly gone. The buoys marking the swim seemed so far that I needed a telescope. This was going to be tough.
We had a pasta lunch and a pasta dinner. Jack inhaled his meals in less than five minutes (I timed him the second time), and was also snacking the whole day on chips, graham crackers, etc. Following his lead, I ate tons of RX Bars (I loveee those), partially out of stress, and I probably overdid it.
I had a headache that started to develop around midday and lasted late into the night. I don’t know if it was the heat, or the stress… probably a combination of both. I felt a bit feverish and barely slept that night.
Plus, the whole day I was freaking out about a pitch at work that I was organizing for Tuesday, two days post race. Things kept going wrong and I spent hours re-organizing / updating information / preparing for it, and the whole time felt so anxious I could explode. Note to self: never schedule something big at work or school for the few days after a big race again.
Race Day
We woke up at 3:30am. Immediately I started drinking water, more electrolytes, and munching on a bagel and a banana (even though I wasn’t hungry) as we drove to the Village with all of our bags. We set up our transitions, pumped our bikes one more time, went to the bathroom (which had crazy lines and caused me to rush to get my wetsuit on) and then made our way to the beach.
The Swim
Much harder than expected. It was a self-seeded start, which meant that there were volunteers holding up signs with times, and you joined a group based on how long you thought you were going to take. 5ish people were going into the water every 10 seconds. The “no swimming” sign, jokes about possible befriending some alligators, and hype music all increased the anticipation as I waited for everyone in the faster categories to start before me.
As soon as I hit the water, it was chaos. One of my goggles started leaking immediately, which I mostly ignored the entire time because of the adrenaline and because I had more pressing things to worry about, such as avoiding waves when trying to breathe.
I had to keep looking up every few strokes to see the buoys because I had no idea where I was going, and I was also trying to not get kicked in the face or run into anyone else. But if there was no one around me then that got me worrying if I was going too slowly or was way off course.
I remember at multiple points during the swim, I had to switch to breast stroke or literally just doggy paddle for a second because I was hyperventilating and trying to control my breath. Switching to those strokes actually helped less than just trying to maintain a freestyle pace.
I remember thinking multiple times: “how tf am I only past the first buoy / half way / not done yet… I am so tired. I’m literally going to drown and not make it to the bike, let alone finish this race.”
I was also super stressed that I was going so slow that I would get disqualified — I had no watch so had no idea what speed I was going, and it felt like there were so many people ahead of me. But, I finally finished and somehow managed to do it in exactly the time I was aiming for — 45 mins.
Transition 1
As I get out of the water and jogged to the transition area, taking off my swim cap, goggles, and wetsuit, I realize… I can’t see out of my right eye. It’s completely blurry. I start freaking out, thinking that the murky lake water that kept leaking in got it infected. Was it swollen? Red? I think it was painful? I couldn’t tell and had no mirror. Regardless… the show must go on. I make it to my bike, put on the socks, shoes & jersey, dropped some gels and stashed them back in my pockets… and started pedaling.
The Bike
Really, really fun. This was the discipline in which I felt the best during the race. It was still tough, and I was tired, but I was pacing myself, not pushing too hard, because I knew I still had a half marathon to run after. My legs felt strong, and I was doing well.
I was worried about someone crashing into me, or my bike breaking, but I decided to just be careful and not focus on things I couldn’t control. Besides, I had so many other things to keep track of: the whole bike ride was basically a picnic. I was eating and drinking the entire time, even when I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty (you literally have to do this, or else you will have nothing left in you during the run, and by then it’s harder for you to absorb things).
Zooming through the three aid stations was fun. I picked up water, Gatorade, one or two gels, and didn’t stop for the toilet. I drank the LMNT electrolyte water that I’d mixed pretty quickly and had to switch to the Gatorade endurance that was offered on the course, which was gross so I barely had any. This ended up being a mistake.
I only ate gels for the entire race, because I was scared to try anything new. This was also a mistake.
At mile 40, and then again at mile 52, I learned how to pee on the bike… they say necessity is the greatest teacher. Lol. It was amazing.
Around the second hour of the bike, it started to get hot. More on this later.
Overall, the bike took me 3h 38mins. I was aiming for under 3:30, so I was a bit disappointed, but I think what slowed me down was eating / drinking (maneuvering the bike with one hand takes some getting used to), peeing and just overall not having a watch to see how fast I was going.
I did have a speedometer which kept showing around 25 — so I was thinking, “wow! 25mph? I’m going so fast!!” At the end of the race, I realized it was in kilometers. *facepalm*
Transition 2
The first few steps I took off the bike, I almost crumpled to the floor and could barely walk, let alone run. So, I slowly made my way to my transition area, racked my bike in its place, changed shoes, and got started on the half marathon.
The Run
Brutal. Absolutely brutal. Pain, pain, and more pain. The first mile was just me trying to re-learn how to use my legs. Then, I felt like I’d been at it for a while and thought “huh. Not sooo bad, I’m probably at mile 3 already…” and then I saw the sign for mile 1.
When I actually got to mile 3, my feet went numb. This had happened twice during long runs in trainings so I wasn’t completely thrown off, but it was still worrying. I then kept up a consistent cycle of running until the numbness covered both feet entirely, running a bit more, then getting scared I would twist my ankle, switching to walking until I regained some feeling, and then running again.
There were aid stations roughly each mile and they could never come fast enough. I walked every single one of them. At this point, it had gotten HOT. I was drinking tons of water, and pouring some on myself, which… you guessed it… ended up being a mistake. When you pour water over yourself, it trickles down and accumulates in your socks. This resulted in the biggest blister I had ever seen forming a day later.
I stuck to my gels the entire time. MISTAKE. My stomach was now in so much pain, very bloated and upset with me. I didn’t know what was happening so I kept trying to compensate (especially because I was exhausted) by eating more gels and drinking more water. MISTAKE. I consumed too many calories for my body to absorb, too much water, and not enough electrolytes.
The last 3 miles of the run were absolutely brutal, the hardest part of the entire race. I could barely walk, my knees were in so much pain. Plus, this entire time that I’d been running / walking, I was freaking out, again, that I’d get disqualified because I was going so slow. There were SO many times when I would think to myself: “there is no way you’re finishing this.”
One of the things that kept me going was that I had sent my tracking link to sooooo many people… I couldn’t just NOT FINISH and embarrass myself like that. I would also imagine the feeling of finishing: that extreme satisfaction and pride that I would feel when I crossed that finish line. When I proved to myself that I could do things I thought were impossible. I kept repeating to myself that I was a TANK, a POWERHOUSE, a FORCE OF NATURE and that I was going to will this finish into existence even if I had to crawl my way there.
I finished in 7h 23mins, over an hour before the cutoff time of 8:30 and crushing my goal of under 7:30. I skipped the post race food, hobbled over to a bench, sat down and cried for 15 mins straight, tears of extreme, extreme joy and pride and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, remembering how I thought I wouldn’t even finish the swim… I couldn’t believe it.
I was also incredibly, incredibly nauseous, due to dehydration. Because, even though I had taken in tons of water, without electrolytes that does more harm than good. I went and threw up in the bathroom, laid down on the grass for a bit, made myself get up, forced myself to eat some pasta (which actually tasted so good) and tried really hard not to throw up again.
The Flight Immediately After
Right after the race was done, we rushed to shower and make it to the airport on time for our flights. Another note to self: do NOT schedule a flight so close to the end of a race ever again.
That shower was the most painful shower of my life. It made me realize how bad my chafing was. The water felt like pouring lemon juice or rubbing salt onto an open wound — that burning sensation was so painful, it makes me cringe just thinking about it.
Then, as we’re packing everything into the car, it starts POURING rain. It’s so bad that we can barely see in front of us and had to drive super slow, arriving at the airport 10mins before my flight started boarding. I go to the check-in to find it fully closed. I completely give up and waddle over to the information desk, asking when the next flight to London was. The guy looks at my info and goes:
“Your flight is boarding now.”
“ I know. I missed the check in. When is the next flight?”
“Well, you know, if they let you through the security check, and you make it to the gate while it’s still open, they could still let you on the flight.”
It takes me a second to realize what he’s saying. I take a deep breath, and rush to security. I’m frantic, cutting the line, barely fit my MASSIVE suitcase through the scanner (because I had to pack over a month worth of clothes in addition to all the equipment since I was going home for the holidays), had to be fully patted down and scanned… but made it through.
Then, I collected myself, dug deep, deep down to muster up EVERY. LAST. BIT of energy I had left… and I SPRINTED to my gate.
I made my flight.
The entire 7 hours I’m drifting in and out of consciousness, on the verge of tears multiple times, just begging them to give me water because I’m still nauseous AF.
I had a layover in Dublin which went smoothly, and then I finally landed in London around noon British time (7am EST).
That’s when I find out my suitcase didn’t make the connection, I have to track down someone that works at Aer Lingus (never flying this airline again, no matter how much cheaper it is) and fill out a missing luggage claim.
I get home around 4pm British time, and decide to stay awake for at least another 5 hours to get on the time zone. I’m totally delirious at this point, running on caffeine, and I finally crash around 10pm, and sleep for 14 hours.
The next two days was just laying in bed, recovering from chafing and trying to heal my blister. I was back in the pool the Wednesday after the race (which felt AMAZING), and biking the day after that. My knees took longer to get back to normal — I tried running a few times but felt sharp pain pretty quickly, so I held off it for about a month.
What’s Next
If you had asked me whether I was considering a full Ironman immediately after finishing the half, I would have answered: “are you f*cking kidding me. LOL. I barely survived this one, a full would definitely kill me”.
On Christmas Day, I biked 80mi on my family’s peloton. And signed up for the full. April 27, Texas. 4 MONTHS TO GO.
This sport is one of the best things I have ever experienced. The mental challenge, physical ability and strength of character that it develops is such an incredible journey that I am so grateful for.
This past month, since I’ve mostly paused the running, I really doubled down on swimming and biking, and made some incredible progress. On the bike, once I did the 80mi ride, a week later I did 112mi in ~7h 30mins, and the 2.4mi swim in ~90mins. (These are the full Ironman distances.) The week after that I did 120mi in just under 7h 15, and the 2.4mi swim in 75mins.
While I know the marathon is definitely going to be the hardest of the three for me, having survived the 70.3, and being more confident in how to train, manage fatigue and prioritize recovery all make me SO FRICKIN HYPED for these next 4 months :) 140.6, here I come!