I remember when I was a young boy and my older brother was explaining to me that there is something called Ironman. It included a 2.4 mile ocean swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a full marathon at the end. I was 15 at the time and had just run my first marathon. I filed that thought away.
Fast forward 39 years and I found myself at the start of the Florida Ironman. I was up against those exact distances and my life and body had both traveled and been through a lot. It turns out for most of my adult life I suffered severe stomach pains. I was misdiagnosed with IBS, stress, and went vegetarian for many years. Some days it would be just bad and other days I could barely function.
At about age 49 I was remarried and my wife said we are going to solve this. She did some research and came back the next day from the grocery store. She said, “I think you are allergic to gluten and because it went undiagnosed for so long also lactose. We are going to try something.” Now my first reaction was I was tested for celiac and the test was negative, but I said, “OK I’ll try anything.” Within two days my system normalized amazingly everything was fine again.
For the first time in almost 20 years, I could run without worrying about rest stops along the way. I started doing 2 then 3 miles and I worked up to 5 miles a day 3 to 4 days a week. My goal was to see if I could be in shape to run a race once I turned 50 with the new age group of 50-54. I had two races picked out. One was a turkey trot 5 mile run and I wanted to see if after all these years I could hit 7:00 min miles. It turned out I hit it exactly and a month later I ran a 5k and that was my test. I ran it is 20:08 or 6:29’s and won my age group by 2:00. I was back interested in running.
That summer a friend of mine asked me to set up a team and ride a cancer fundraiser for the Cleveland Clinic. I signed up for 200 miles and completed 160. The next summer I signed up for 210 and did the full 210. I was seeing that I could run and bike so I signed up for some sprint triathlons. I did not do very well but I finished every one I started. I knew it was time for swim lessons. I signed up for weekly lessons and started swimming with a masters group 1 to 2 times a week. I hired a strength coach, a biking coach, and a running coach as well. I worked up to where I completed my first Olympic distance race and the requisite 800 yard swim. I was very nervous but placed 3rd in my age group at this local race. I was finding that my running from many years ago had not left me and multiple mile repeats at around a 6:10 pace was still in me. I played with bike equipment going from my 35-year-old high school English touring bike to a road bike with tri bars to a full aero bike, each time finding a bit more speed and comfort.
The first big year for my triathlon racing was 2015 where I did two half Ironman events. I was not even sure if I could swim 1.2 miles but I did it in Muncie in the spring and then I signed up for Miami in the fall and put down a time that put me in 13th place in my age group at a 5:15 or a full hour better than Muncie.
The next year, 2016, was a very exciting year as I signed up for four half Ironman events and broke into the top 100 in the world in rankings in my age group. I completed Aix en Provence, France; Racine, Wisconsin; Delaware, Ohio; and Miami, Florida. I had a wipeout in Delaware and my body was showing signs of wear and tear when I was in the offseason. In December I had a very bad wipeout on my fat tire bike on ice. I instantly knew I had a severe concussion. A 9-1-1 trip in the ambulance, 4-plus months of headaches, memory loss, and severe vertigo led to finding a very strong Neurologist and ear nose and throat Physical Therapist got me through. By May it was a complete restart of Triathlon conditioning. Day one back was 5 minutes on my bike and we progressively worked up to an hour on the bike trainer, then added swimming, and then running in the water. I deferred my entry into my first Ironman in Lake Placid in June and picked a race that was the last one on US soil they would let me defer to, Florida to take place in Panama City Beach on November 4, 2017. I did not do any competitions because the whole idea was to get my body in great shape to be able to complete my first full Ironman. It was a risky strategy because whenever we upped training my headaches would return. I found I could swim well, I could bike well, but the pounding of the run kept jarring my brain. It was almost June before I could run any kind of distances.
I worked with my coach and kept amazing both her and myself as my times got better and better. She called me one day and said, “You know your times this year are matching where you were last year.” I found that hard to believe but my Garmin data showed it to be true. I had not put down any faster 5 to 7 mile runs but this was not the goal. The goal was an Ironman. The last month before Florida I had my 16 to 20 hour weeks including several 5 and one 7 hour bike days. The long run got up to 20 miles and the swims were 4 days a week or at least a mile a swim.
The amount of preparation is so much I cannot even begin to share the effort but 4 a.m. alarms became the norm and 7:30 p.m. bedtimes were not rare. I felt strong, my wife said I looked strong, but I had not really been tested except for those long days.
To get ready, since May, I ran 460 miles, biked 3000 miles and swam 122,000 yards or 70 miles. One day I got conditioning reading on my watch, which showed my V02 as 56 and that as the highest reading the watch offered and said it was equivalent to a 20-year-old, so I figured maybe I was ready.
I arrived in Florida with my wife and unlike our trip to France the previous year; we shipped my bike with Tribike transport. It was heavenly to only have one bag and have your bike a few hundred yards from the starting line and well worth the cost. I had upgraded bikes again and had a pretty streamlined new black on black Specialized Shiv Di2 with brand new Zipp racing wheels. This bike ran me roughly double what I paid for my first car. I was ready for the test but when I got to the bike drop off I was amazed and impressed by how many sensational bikes of all sizes and colors showed up from around the world. The announcer said almost 80 countries were represented and 2400 people had registered for the race. I knew in the 50-54 age group I had 240 competitors. My coach and I had worked out a plan for a 1:20 swim, a 6:00 hour bike, and a 4:00 run with a composite goal of breaking 12:00 hours.
The accommodations were simple but really nice. My coach introduced me to a group of five other athletes and their families supporting them and we shared a very large house. When we arrived we were complete strangers, but as all of us were attempting our first Full Ironman, by the end of the weekend we were like brothers and sisters complete with hugs goodbye. We prepared communal meals, we trained each day together, and we drove the entire bike and run course in cars comparing notes on hills, turns, shade and bad roads along the way. Most people do Florida because it is flat and fairly warm in November. I met people from many states and lots of foreign countries. The Ocean water, however, can kick up and be very rough and the wind and sun can be a factor.
We set our alarms race day at 3:30 a.m. I got up and ate immediately, one piece of gluten-free toast with honey, one banana, my first cup of coffee in four days. Then the water bottles we all prepared the night before, the gels, salts, chap-sticks, tri-glide, and gear all came together. Race numbers on the bike, the body markings, and the race number for the run, all completed and in place. We arrived and you would think a 5 a.m. arrival with a 7 a.m. start would be early, but it was not. By the time you place your fluids, nutrition, pump your tires, place your bike computers, check and recheck your gear bags, plus have the two on-course refuel bags in place, you would be amazed that every minute is used up.
I had both new running shoes and new biking shoes, and could not decide which to wear so I bought all of them. In the end, I chose the old bike shoes and the new running shoes and it was the right combination. I have learned a lot of tricks in the half Ironman races. I put Vaseline in the toe box of my running shoes to save my toenails; it worked. I always wear socks on my bike even though it is hard to put them on with wet feet after the swim. On longer races, I use shoes with shoelaces because the scrunch laces have hurt my feet in the past. I also carry extra salt in case I drop the pills I carry. I had enough equipment to replace one bike tube and fix two others. In the end, my equipment was perfect and my experience really paid off. I am a huge proponent of Hammer Nutrition and use almost all of their hydration, nutrition, and salts. I decided ahead of time to wear three separate outfits and not worry about transition times. My thought was it’s my first full and comfort before speed was my mantra. I carried a lot of seat lubricant and lots of sunscreen, and I used all of it.
The swim line up started at 7 a.m. but because I was in a slower group I was about 20 minutes after the first gun when the pros went out. I was not nervous; I was excited. My goal was to break 2:00 per 100 yards and I had to do that 41 times to hit my goal. I never looked at my tri watch it was just too much commotion in the water. I did, however, get a very nice start and caught the current going out and averaged 1:40’s for my first leg. The course was a very long narrow triangle and that brought all of us tightly around the two main turn buoys. It got crazy even with the slow people I was swimming with and the second lap we were passed by some of the faster swimmers. I made some mistakes and swam an extra 400 yards. So did I hit 2:00? Yes, I averaged 1:55’s for my entire race but I missed my 1:20 because of the roughly 8 extra minutes I went off route. I came in a 1:26 and the second lap was rougher than the first. I had vertigo from the movement. I jogged into the changing area and saw my wife on the way. She was relieved to see me but had no idea how I felt. I got in the room and sat down for almost 5 minutes looking at the wall and resting to make sure that I was not dizzy getting on the bike. I invested 9:30 getting my clothes on and my head back in the game.
When I left the room, they asked me for my bike number. I gave it to them, and being an All World Athlete from my successful 2016 campaign my bike was at the front, right next to the start, this meant a long jog with bike shoes. I was so happy to be on the bike and moving into an event I have come to love. My power meter was working and I had a goal of 150-160 for the entire ride. That would give me a 19mph time. Over the next 5:56 minutes I averaged 156 and 19.2 mph, exactly what we planned. The wind the sun and the longevity were challenging, but the long training rides had me ready for the bike. I enjoyed most of the ride with one rough period where I needed to find a restroom. I was right where I wanted to be when I turned in my bike and put on my running clothes. The run has always been my favorite and to have an audience and other participants for the first time in a year was cathartic. I smiled and stopped and got fluids and I thoroughly enjoyed the first 13.1 miles and crushed my goal with a 1:52 split.
I had crazy fast miles early in other race, but this event I made sure I kept my early miles in an 8:30 pace range. I found between miles 13 and 20 it was really the hardest part of the entire race for me. My 8: ’30s turned to 9:30, and eventually to 10: ’30s. I kept moving, I kept eating and drinking. I stayed on salts and the mile markers kept going up. When I got to the 20th mile I thought I have a 10k to go, I know I can do this. My times started to get better. I was at mile 25 and put down my fastest mile at 8:30 and I came in at 4:06. But more importantly, I broke the 12 hours with an 11:43. I was 38th out of 240 in my age group and I was very happy to have a top 20 marathon time in my age group. I know that next year when I age up to 55-59 where this year’s time would have placed me 13th, I have a fighting chance at a top 10 finish so I did sign up for next year’s event.
The finish was very emotional with my wife there and my name being called out, “Mark Brandt coming in from Rocky River, Ohio. Great job, Mark. You are an Ironman!”
My favorite quote is: “In other sporting events you finish something. In an Ironman you become something!”
I went from concussions and bed rest to meet a very ambitious goal. I am an Ironman.
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