Hank Abromson, You Are An Ironman!
Hank Abromson, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

My two-year long goal finally came to fruition on November 3, 2007. Two and half years ago the thought entered my head to do an Ironman. At that time, I had only done one very short super sprint (not even a sprint distance) triathlon, but I was hooked. And as I have so often done before in my life, I didn’t simply settle for a simple goal. I wanted it all. And so it became my new goal, to become an Ironman.

Since I was just starting out in the sport, I knew it would take some time to reach the distances and endurance required to meet this goal. And so I decided that in my first full season of tri I would work up to a half Ironman distance and then tackle the full Ironman in the next season.

In 2006, among other races, I competed in the Diamondman half iron triathlon. I completed it, but I was definitely fatigued. That really did not sway me from my mission though. I signed up for the 2007 Florida Ironman that November. I had one year to train.

I began lifting weights in October 2006, on my way to building up endurance and strength. Over the next few months I began to run, bike, and swim again, though lightly.

Beginning in February 2007, I became a coach for Team in Training cycling. I coached my team to ride a full century ride, 100 miles. By May I had my running up to about 9 miles, I had done several 60+ mile rides on the bike, and my swimming was up to about 2k. I was well on my way.

Over the next several months, I honed my skills and got up to the distances required to complete Ironman. I did 5 100+ mile rides up to 120 miles at one time, several 3500+ yd swims, including a 4k and a 4300 yd swim, and runs up to 17 miles.

The Race

We arrived on Wednesday before the race in Panama City, Florida. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The highs were in the high 70s, a little windy, and sun. The same would hold true for race day. This was especially comforting after reports from last year’s race included strong winds, significant chop in the water, and cold temperatures.

In the days leading up to the race I got in my final workouts. I went on a short bike ride to make sure that everything was mechanically sound. I went on a short swim to get used to the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I packed my transition and special needs bags. I don’t think I’ve ever been required to master logistics quite like I did during Ironman week. From making sure I had every piece of apparel for every possible weather condition, every piece of equipment for the three sports, all of my necessary nutrition, money, and clothes for outside of training and racing. Then I had to pack all of the nutrition and special needs bags. Forgetting one special thing in one of those bags could make a difficult day unbearable or worse, impossible.

With all of my bags packed and my bike all ready to go, I marched everything down to the transition area on Friday, the day before the race. I managed to get everything in the right position ready for race day. Transition was beginning to take shape. I have never seen so many incredible bikes and so many fit people. The scene is pretty intimidating. It really gets one’s race juices flowing. That’s for sure.

The rest of the day on Friday was spent relaxing, spending time with my family, getting in an early pasta dinner. I also watched my favorite movie, What It Takes, to give me a little extra motivation before I went to sleep.

After going through the race again in my head I fell asleep around 10:30. I had my alarm set for 3:30, but woke after a pretty solid night of sleep at 2:30am. I laid in bed and ran through the race again in my head. I was anxious to get it started. I was scared, excited, and curious to see what Ironman had in store for me.

I got out of bed at 3:30am, went to the bathroom, put on my race uniform, warm clothes for transition and grabbed some breakfast. Eating solid food that early in the morning when you are that nervous is difficult, but I saw it as my first test of the day that I had to conquer if I wanted the day to be successful. I was aiming to take in about 1000 calories. I ate a bagel (290 cals) with a light spread of peanut butter (200 cals). I also had some Propel fitness (75 cals) water to hydrate. I didn’t want to eat any more, but I got in more than half of what I wanted. I considered that a success.

I made final preparations, got my special needs bags and miscellaneous food and gear together and headed out the door with my favorite Iron Sherpa and wife, Elise.

It was dark and quiet. My head was swirling with thoughts and questions about the day ahead. As we neared the transition area about ¾ mile away from our hotel, we became part of a mass heading in the same direction. We joined other athletes who I’m sure had their own thoughts and questions swirling in their heads. Everyone seemed to be very focused on the task before them. We were all quiet.

We arrived at transition right as they opened it up for the day. I got to my bike, put my food on, attached and prepared my bike computers, inflated my tires, cleaned off my tires, and made sure everything was tight. I put food in my transition and special needs bags and everything was set. I then met up with my parents and it was time to put on my wetsuit and say my final goodbyes. Truth be told, I was scared to death. I have never been a swimmer and until about two years ago I couldn’t even keep my face in the water while swimming. To start this day with a 2.4 mile swim in the Gulf of Mexico with 2000 other competitors was not an easy way to begin. Then again, Ironman is not an easy challenge. Ironman will constantly test you throughout the day. It will find out what you are made of very quickly. To start with the swim was my first personal test.

The singer belted out the national anthem and soon the gun went off. The 2000 athletes slowly made their mass entrance into the water to begin the day. I started towards the back of the middle and on the outside of the pack. The last thing I wanted was to get caught up in the washing machine of an Ironman swim with people kicking, punching, and swimming over me. I began swimming and within what seemed like a minute I found myself on the inside lane of the swim right in the middle of the washing machine. Great, I thought, but I handled it well. It actually slowed me down as I could not find any open space to swim. I kept going, doing the best I could to get my regular stroke down, sighting every now and then, and slowly making progress towards the ultimate goal, the finish line.

I swam around the first buoy. The first quarter of the swim was done. I drafted a bit coming back to shore. Before I knew it I came out of the water after the first lap of a two lap swim with a time of :40. This was perfectly on pace for what I expected my swim time to be, 1:30. I saw my family while running along the beach before getting back in the water. Getting that first lap done and in such a great time for me was a huge lift. I got right back in the water and started the second lap. It seemed like I got to the buoy much faster this time. On my way back to shore I was getting tired though. I had enough swimming. The time went by a bit faster though once I started to notice the flying fish coming up between the swimmers. I also noticed some very large fish beneath us, which pushed me to go a bit faster. I finished the swim exactly at my expected time 1:30. I was very happy with that.

I made my way up to transition after the swim and got my wetsuit stripped. As I was getting stripped, I thought to myself this is really the Ironman. This is exactly what I’ve read and heard so much about. How neat!

I grabbed my suit, grabbed my bike transition bag and ran into the changing tent. I sat down and began putting my bike stuff on just as I had practiced in my head the night before. I stuffed my wetsuit in the bag and ran out of the change tent. One third done, I thought to myself.

I got my bike out to the mount area and got on. Ok, here we go, like a thousand times before. My only fear on the bike was a flat tire. I rode my bike so much this year that I thought I could probably get a decent time.

I started out on the bike and went through town. It is nice and flat and provides a great way to start. I avoided the pothole that I hit on my training rides a couple days before and I headed out of town. As I practiced before, I only took in water for the first twenty minutes to settle my stomach and nerves a bit. My training and preparation really came together in this race. Everything paid off.

At thirty minutes, I took in my first dose of food and began my Gatorade intake. They offered Gatorade endurance on the course. This has more salt than I am used to, which turned out to be good because I couldn’t keep my regular salt intake up like I did when I practiced on the rail trail. In training, I could prepare my bike bottles with salt the night before. But at Ironman, I was forced to use on course drink. It became difficult. Everything was going fine though. I hit the bridge leaving town and was making good progress, slowly over taking bike after bike while keeping my effort very light. Just as I entered the flat after the bridge, I heard “psssssss” and my bike began to shake. I hit the brakes and slid a bit. Sh*t! My worst fear has been realized, a flat tire at mile twelve. I pulled over and touched the tire just to make sure I wasn’t wrong about the situation. Unfortunately, I was quite right. At least it wasn’t the tubular tire, I thought.

I removed my aero bottle full of Gatorade so I could keep my hydration. I removed my rear wheel and just as I had practiced so many times at home, I changed my flat tire. I got the job done pretty smoothly. My only concern was that I only had one clincher tube as a backup. If I got another flat, my race was over. So much training and preparation would be wasted. If I over inflated the tube, I was done. If I got a pinch flat, I was done. Sheesh!

I got back on the road and everything held up pretty well, but I had to ride a little more cautiously, constantly looking for debris that could flat my tire. The bike course was generally rolling to flat. I kept a steady pace and energy level. I got off the bike a couple times to go to the bathroom and get some food and to stretch. I figured this saved me time in the long haul. Some of the roads were pretty rough, causing a lot of lost gear on the roadway. I passed some unused tubes that other cyclists must of lost on the course due to the bumpy roads and thought about picking one up as a backup. Unfortunately, I passed them by too fast and didn’t want to stop suddenly and cause an accident with a bike behind me. I kept going making sure to block out the negative thoughts I had about another flat potentially ending my day. I maintained positive thoughts only. Most of Ironman is mental and if you let negative thoughts sneak into your head, it’s over for you.

At about 70 miles I could not eat any more solid food. I was done. I took in what Gatorade I could for calories and kept up my salt and water intake. Avoiding dehydration was one of my main goals of the day and I think I did a very good job maintaining my hydration level. I was very pleased with that part of the race.

I came into transition at 7 hrs bike time, 7.5 hours including fixing my flat and potty stops. It could’ve been better, but it could’ve been worse. Frankly, I did not care at all about my time in this race. My sole goal was to finish and become an Ironman. My biggest concern at this time was the fact that my chest was really tight and I couldn’t breathe deeply. I’m not sure if it was caused by allergies or over exertion, but I sat down in transition before the run and thought about getting checked out by medical. I feared that medical wouldn’t let me go on though, so I made the decision that as long as I could at least take shallow breaths and remain upright, I should keep going. So, I kept going.

I got my run stuff together. I took three salt capsules and took down some water and Gatorade. I headed out onto the run course. I didn’t feel great, but I didn’t feel too badly either. My aim was to run from water stop to water stop and that’s pretty much what I did. I thought the layout for the marathon was great. It was 6+ miles out and 6+ back, which made it really easy to break down the race in my head. It made it much more manageable for me.

I headed out on the run course and ran from stop to stop. I completed the first lap in about 2:30. Not bad at all. I turned around and saw so many of the athletes finishing. Although it was tough to see others finishing while I was about to head out for more punishment, it really did not break me mentally as it has in so many races before. Typically, I cannot handle seeing others coming into finish while I have more to do, which is one reason I don’t like double lap races. For whatever reason, I was fine with this though and it gave me something to look forward to.

I grabbed my special needs back and threw on a long sleeve t-shirt. I saw my snickers bar in there, but I had no craving for anything solid at that point. When I stopped, I realized how tired I was. I rested on the metal barrier on the side of the course for a second or two and then I ran over to Elise and my sister who were taking pictures of me from the side. I asked Elise to walk a little with me and she did. That was probably the best part of the race for me :-).

I then decided that enough was enough and it was time for me to get this last lap over with. I walked much more of the course this time, but managed to get some good shuffling in here and there. I ate some hot chicken broth which tasted like the nectar of the gods at the time. I followed with some water to keep up my salt and water intake. I would typically then take in some cola at the next stop. And on and on this game went. I was still sweating and I took that as a positive sign that I was well hydrated. It was getting dark on the course, but that didn’t stop people from partying. It was like a huge block party along the entire course. It was great.

I made my way around the turn at the far end of the course and I turned towards home. I shuffled as much as my body would allow. I picked up a glow stick too, as I wanted the full Ironman experience, which I always pictured walking along after dark with a glow stick.

I got to the 23 mile marker. I only had 3.2 miles left! I made my way through the neighborhoods and then I saw the glow of lights from the finish area and heard Mike Riley saying, “_______ YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!” I decided it was time for me to go home and accomplish my goal. At 2 miles out, I began to run. All the pain, hunger, and weakness left my body at this time. I came running out of the neighborhoods, across the main drag and into the final stretch. I was running at a fast clip at this point, just focusing on finishing and staring straight ahead.

I caught a lot of double takes from other competitors who were in disbelief as I sprinted past them. One guy tried to run with me then just said, “You have too much spring for me. I’ll see you at the finish.” The closer I got, the faster I got and the more people cheered me on and commented that I looked strong. Each cheer got me more excited and the adrenaline became to pump. I was so focused on keeping the pace and finishing though, that I barely recognized their cheers. I was thinking thank you, but for some reason I could not or chose not to speak. I stared straight ahead and gave slight thumbs ups to those cheering me on. As I headed down the final stretch on Thomas Drive, the finish line opened up in front of me. The sidelines of the course were packed with spectators. Everyone was cheering me on now. I saw the finish and I charged!

I couldn’t see faces, only bodies and clapping hands. The lights were bright against the pitch black sky. I was hoping Elise and my sister could see me and were getting this on film. My excitement reached a high. I pointed to the sidelines with each arm as I came screaming down the chute. I slapped some spectators five and then I pointed straight up to the sky with both arms as I barreled through the finishers tape and screamed YEEEAAAAHHH! I then heard the magical words that I had worked so hard to hear for two years. “HENRY ABROMSON...YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!!!!!”

I came through the shoot and felt great. A volunteer asked if I needed help, but I didn’t. He led me over to a volunteer who put the finisher’s medal around my neck. Then I got my t-shirt, hat and heat shield blanket. Then I took my finisher’s photo.

I was greeted by Elise and my family and I felt great.

Two years of waking up at 5:30 am for early morning swims and spending entire days cycling and running; Paying close attention to my nutrition and learning the ins and outs of proper nutrition and hydration techniques for racing. Two years of building strength and endurance got me to this point. It wasn’t easy, but I can say without a doubt that it was worth all the pain and hard work.

I am an Ironman and no matter what I do from here on, I will always be an Ironman!