Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Recap
Ironman Florida 70.3 - Race Recap
Next Level Coaching athlete, Jordan Hanby, recounts his experience at Ironman Florida 70.3 in Haines City (aka the Disney Half Ironman). This was his second half ironman triathlon, of hopefully many more to come.
Grit. Determination. Mental Fortitude.
That is what this race called for. This was a challenge through and through. I decided race back to back after having so much fun at the Ironman Waco 70.3. Sold it as a chance to race and swing by Disney. From the start, I was wondering if I bit off more than I could chew.
I knew going in that the swim would be technically challenging, it was in the shape of an M and had a lot of turns. What I didn’t know was that all those turns caused a ton of traffic, it was like swimming on bourbon street during Mardi Gras. Crowded is an understatement. It was a tough swim for everyone, but I gutted it out.
I got on the bike not feeling my best. What a great bike course though. Central Florida is not flat, I’ll say that much. We had a bit of climbing, but overall it was one of my favorite bike courses to date. Even not feeling my best, I had an 20 minute PR on the bike. Got off the bike feeling reinvigorated because I knew I had a chance to go quite a bit lower on my overall time. For this race, I upgraded my tires which seemed to make a huge difference. I upgraded my tires from Continental Gatorskins to Continental GP5000 tires. I picked up over 1mph this race, so I can say that was a cheap upgrade that paid dividends!
The run is where that mental fortitude was needed most. It was in the 80s during the run portion of the race. Had that happened during the summer where I’d been running in 110 degree weather for 3 months, I’d have been just dandy. However, it has been cold by me for a few months and I lost all of that heat acclimation. It just killed me. I had to use everything I had to finish the run, but I knew I would the entire time. The volunteers on the course were incredible, and it was especially cool getting hosed down by random houses and one guy even setup a makeshift mister with a leaf blower. I was drenched in sweat, salt crystals on my sleeves, and of course I was reminded afterwards “I paid for this, don’t suck.” On the run, I tried some new gear this race. I raced with Nike Vaporfly 3 shoes this time around, which while I had a slower run, were much more comfortable than the Saucony super shoes that I tried last race.
It was those times during the summer where your body is boiling inside. Even the times during the winter where it is 5 AM, pitch black outside, and below 30 getting the miles in. When no one else is doing it. That is what I had to call back on when I was deep in the pain chamber this race. It wasn’t the physical challenge this race, this was all mental for me. Sure it was physically tough, but your mind goes to a dark place when it gets this overwhelming.
I finished in 6:46, which was a 4 minute PR. I was happy to just finish with how difficult this race was for me.
A huge thanks to my coach Todd Judice of Next Level Coaching, for coming to provide support. He actually came to the race! We simulated the race on Saturday, talked strategy for this race, and then executed on Sunday. The plan is what sets you up for success. The grind is what got me through this one. Grinding out one workout after another, even when you’d rather stay in bed on a Saturday morning. That grind sets you up for success on a race day like this, and no one could have pushed me harder.
Todd Judice is the reason I went down the rabbit hole with triathlon. He didn’t try to sell me, he just talked about his experience with such passion. I get excited when people genuinely show their passion in their life, and it led me to start googling and searching all the information I could late one night. I played football growing up and did weightlifting for most of my adult life, so triathlon was the complete and utter opposite of what I stood for. I was actually more fascinated with bodybuilding. I eventually stumbled across some YouTube videos of a bodybuilder trying to complete an Ironman, and it was at that point that I knew it was possible. I’ve stuck by that guy through my time in triathlon, in addition to Todd. So for this race I wanted to represent Nick Bare’s company, Bare Performance Nutrition, with the hat that I chose to wear for this race. Go One More has been a mantra for me from the beginning, and something that we should all aspire to. It also didn’t hurt that they were based out of Austin, which is where Coach Todd and I first met.
As my daughter likes to say, on to the next one!