The trip from Cape May, NJ to Orlando, FL for the 2007 Ford Ironman 70.3 Florida set an ominous tone for the race I was about to compete in; wildfires across the northern parts of Florida covered the highways in smoke, almost preventing me from reaching the race site. In a way, this minor difficulty represented a lot of what I had encountered over the previous 6 months in my preparation for the event.

I first decided to compete in this race in October 2006, based largely on a challenge from my brother.

While I had been a decently successful triathlete in my college days, I had since moved on to an afloat lifestyle, and at the time was halfway through my first tour as a deck watch officer on USCGC VIGOROUS (WMEC 627). Our hectic schedule had caused me to let some of my physical fitness slip, and I was looking for a way to regain it; my brother's challenge gave me the motivation I needed. Over the next 6 months, training was a challenge; I encountered two 60 day D7 migrant patrols, a change of command, a pending PCS, and a slew of other Coast Guard related commitments.
Training onboard a ship presented both its share of challenges and rewards; while riding the exercise bike in the belly of a 210' cutter isn't exactly my idea of fun, I was rewarded with beautiful training rides and runs in Key West, FL, and Guantanmo Bay. This challenging training time underway was finally met with a month of land-based training when VIGOROUS returned to homeport in April. The travel the race was relatively stress-free, despite the length of time it took to drive to Florida from New Jersey. While this took a bit more time, it was well worth it to know that I wouldn't have to submit any of my equipment to the mercy of the airlines. I arrived in Orlando on the Friday before the Sunday race. I took the time to pick up my registration, as well enjoy the heat and all the aspects of the race expo on Friday; Saturday was a day of mostly rest and preparation, as I ensured all the minute details of my bicycle were ready for the race ahead. Race morning was a typical blur of waking up well before the sun came up coupled with the muted excitement and anticipation of starting. Preparations for the race were kind of rushed towards the end, as I had a great deal of trouble figuring out to how to properly setup my disc wheel. Before I knew it, I was being herded into the starting chute and we were off; I started in the third wave. It was my first major non-wetsuit legal swim, which proved to be interesting.
Ultimately, I was disappointed with my swim, which I completed in 38:13; approximately 9 minutes slower than my PR for that distance. I quickly make the transition from water to land and had a very smooth transition to the bicycle, where I immediately dropped the hammer to make up for lost time. The bike course was very flat, and had very little wind for the first half.
My pacing strategy for the bike was slightly off, as I had thought it was a two loop course; it turned out to be a single loop course, with a much windier second half.

Although my pace suffered slightly from the wind, the biggest hit came just before the halfway point, where I received a 4-minute blocking penalty for not staying on the right side of the road while not passing. This fueled my desire to make back time even more, which probably caused me to burn a few more matches than I had available. I finished the 56 mile bike in a time of 2:32:11, including the 4 minute penalty; it ended up being the 9th fastest split of my 89 person division. Overall, my race was going well until I hit the run portion; immediately out on the run, I was unable to breathe regularly; my limited fitness level, coupled with my overexertion on the bikes proved to be too much effort on my respiratory system. While I was still in a safe state to run, I could only maintain a decent pace for the first 4 or 5 miles; from that point on, my pace dropped significantly. My goal mile pace of 7:30 min/miles for the 13.1 mile run was well off of the 9:26 min/miles that I ran. I crossed the finish line relieved to have simply survived the race; I finished in a total time of 5:9:06, good enough for 21st out of 89 in the 18-24 age group, and 439th out of 2048 competitors. The race completed, there was one final goal to accomplish; the whole point of traveling to this race was to obtain a slot in one of the most coveted long distance triathlons in the world, Subaru Ironman Canada. 2007 is the 25th anniversary of this race, and as such, the only way to register without qualifying was to be in Penticton, BC the day after the 2006 race. As I waited through the awards ceremony, I had the chance to applaud my friend and fellow coastie LTJG Brian Monaghan, who took 2nd place in his age group at the race. Following the awards ceremony, nearly 6 hours after I finished the race, the entries for Ironman Canada were brought up; after months of training, a hard day of racing, and 6 hours of anticipation, I was one of 25 lucky individuals to receive a coveted slot! At the end of the day, despite all the trials and troubles I had been through leading to the difficult Florida half-ironman, I achieved the end goal; entry to a world-class, full-Ironman distance race. Now, to get back to training…

Matt