Shawna’s Ironman in the Sunshine State

After her months of training, Shawna Rasmussen felt ready to take on the Florida Ironman. Her tall (6’3”), lean frame was chiseled down to a mere 14% body fat, her tri bike had been shipped across the country and was ready and waiting for her, and at sea level, she was feeling that little advantage that one can have coming down from a higher altitude.

The massive start of the Ironman. Go, Shawna, go!

The swim portion of Florida’s Ironman was held in the warm waters off the Panama City beach. She felt great at the start and enjoyed the buoyancy of the seawater: “The swim portion was great; I think I swam well.” Her only problem was that she found it hard to “sight” (i.e. keep her eye on where she was going) because of the swells caused by the incoming tropical storm Ida.

On the other hand, her transition from the swim to the bike didn’t go as well. It turned out that she had forgotten her bike shorts and socks. A helpful volunteer sweetly took off her own socks and gave them to Shawna. As for the bike shorts, she was out of luck and would have to bike the 112 miles wearing just her tri suit.

As she started on the bike, she found herself soon facing headwinds caused by the storm which, while still out to sea, was blowing hard.  She fought the headwinds constantly for 40 miles. Then the forgotten bike shorts became an issue as she suffered from chaffing and stopped five times to apply Vaseline on her sore thighs. Looking back, she felt she could have pushed harder if only she hadn’t forgotten her shorts. She felt exhausted as she peeled herself off her bike and thought, “I am so ready to be done with this!”

On her ride, Shawna faced headwinds from the incoming storm.

Then she faced the marathon. Amazingly, a mere three minutes into her run she felt better. She was using different muscles than she had on her tri bike. It felt as if the bike portion had been just a seven hour warm-up for this. Her legs felt “totally fresh” and she later said, “I don’t think I ever ran an easier marathon.”

As I interviewed Shawna, I found her thoughtful approach to her fueling during the Ironman fascinating. A few months earlier she had cycled through the grueling 206-mile LOTOJA race eating fruit and PB & J sandwiches. But she knew with a run following her cycling she wanted to only ingest what would give her immediate fuel without any digestive upset. For her that meant mostly liquids: Hammer’s Sustained Energy, (a long-distance fuel) GU packs, and salt tabs with water. She saved the caffeine until the half-marathon point of her run. At the point she most needed a boost she had it: 2 Excedrin, 4 oz. of a Blue Monster drink, and a double caffeine GU—roughly 300 mg. It worked: one minute she was tired, the next, she wasn’t. Her third leg of the marathon was her fastest.

The few, the proud, the Ironman finishers!

Shawna finished the Ironman in a respectable 12:45:03, celebrated with her friends who had also finished and her husband Ken, who had come out with her to support her. The next day she had very little muscle soreness and they were able to fly out before Tropical Storm Ida hit on Monday. The question is: would she do it again? “Yes,” then she adds, ”But not for a few years, I want to focus on speed first.” Somehow, I can’t wait to see what she’ll do next.