Becker Buzz' In Disney

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Ford Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Report
May 20, 2007
Swim: 28:38 Bike: 2:15:04 Run: 1:25:43 Finish: 4:12:55
18th Professional Male


Today I raced the 4th Anuual Ford Ironman Florida 70.3 Half Ironman at Disney World in Sunny Florida. I have done exactly 2 speed workouts in the last 8 weeks as I prepare for Ironman Coeur D’ Alene, and was just looking for a solid all around day against a world class field. That is exactly what I got. Temperatures were pretty moderate and the winds were not as strong as they could have been.

The gun went off at 6:20am and I found myself swimming pretty easy in a group…It was still fairly dark, so sighting was a bit tough and didn’t know if I was with who I wanted to be swimming with. I decided to just hold tight and see where it put me as things got sorted. Well, I rounded the second turn buoy as we headed back toward transition and I could see that the next group was not that far ahead, so I moved to the front of the pack and tried to bridge the gap. Yeah, 800m to close a 1min gap to a group, THAT wasn’t going to happen, so I backed off and returned to the pack.

To my suprise a fair number of good swimmers were close and it was a TIMEX PARTY in T1. Jordan, Curt and myself were all at our bikes at the exact same time. Saweet, only problem is that I didn’t think I could stick with them for the entire 90k. After a few misdirections that sent Jordan and I off course 2 times, nearly crashing both times. We got out of the park and the fleet of TTX’s was in high gear. I was able to hang with Curt for about 15k, but then had to let him go. I just tried to watch my HR through my Timex Body Link system to make sure I wasn’t working too hard. I tried to get as low as possible, which my aero-drink bottle really helps me do….you don’t have to move at all to get the hydration that you need.

As we got to the first out and back, the first pack was way out front, then about 5min back was a pack that Lewis, Jordan and Michael Lovato were in. Behind them were one or two other riders, Curt, my friend Zach and then myself another 40sec back. I solo-ed the rest of the way into T2 and came off feeling good. I have really learned to love the Power Gel. The reason is because of the 200mg of sodium in each packet. THAT seems to be the key to ward off the cramps.

Out onto the run I felt good, but I didn’t have that HIM pop, but didn’t expect to right now either. I actually warmed into the run, I was able to raise my effort and HR, while descending the pace of each loop and bringing mile splits from 6:35, down to 6:10 at the end. All great signs for IM fitness. I arrived at the line feeling good physically and ok everything else…besides the blisters :-0 I am really looking forward to CDA on June 24th.

It was great to be racing with so many other teamates, everyone had a great day out there! Congratulations to everyone on their great races. I want to thank my mom for coming down to FL to watch me race. It always means a lot when she gets to watch, also Graham Partain who let me train out of his house the last 2 winters and stay there again for this race. Of course, AWESOME Team Timex and The Trek Bike Store of Madison for helping me get to the race.

Now back to wisco……

BB - www.blakebecker.com

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