Jason Shortis interview at Ironman South Africa

before triathlon & now

Yes thats fat me on the right

Yes and thats me after my 70.3 on sunday. 

I was reading someone elses blog and how they had motivated people just by there before and after pics, so if this motivates one person to try and lose weight, then i guess my job is done.

ironman 70.3 florida race review

awesome, awesome, awesome is all i have to say. what and incredible experience. was it easy? no. was it FUN? no. was it hard? yes. was it a living hell? yes. was there controversy? yes. will i ever put myself through that hell again? you betcha.

What an awesome awesome day. From about 3 minutes into the swim, i was questioning my decision to do a half ironman. I had a great swim, tough, tough bike leg and the toughest run i have ever done in my life. Did i love every minute of it, YES.

So the swim was pretty awesome. It was a lake swim and the water was 84 degrees. yip thats right, 84 degrees. no wetsuits. i started in the LAST group of the day, which was pretty shitty, 2400 athletes in front of me made the race filled with traffic but it was ok in the water. it was a bit crazy in the beginning but after about 5 minutes found some clean water and just paced myself and made sure i made it to the end of the swim.

I came out of the water after 38 minutes which was exactly where i wanted to be and ran up the beach to transition which was about 300 yards away. my T1 time was just over 4 minutes which i felt was a great time. My bike ride didn't start great, i lost a water bottle at the mount point. and you know you get into the mindset where you cant slow down to go back for it, so i didn't. i was off with just 3 bottles but i knew there would be more available on the route.

The bike route was fast, before i knew it i was averaging 22 mph and was heading for  probably a 2:30 bike time. the big trains of bikes was also helpful as people were getting bunched up and there was a bit of drafting going on. i think this is pretty common now days in triathlon. i know they have to tell you you cant do it but there just isn't enough marshals to police it. then all hell broke loose, about 90 minutes into my ride i got the worst cramps in my ass. yeah, thats right , my ass, it was so painful i could sit on my seat in the aero position. i either had to stand or i had to sit up straight on my seat with no hands on my handle bars.

Can you imagine all these people flying past me on the flats in the aero position and here i am having a sunday cruise on my bike. it didnt seem very funny at the time and eventually someone came up to me and asked me if they could get some water from me so that they could take a salt tablet. the guy was nice enough to give me one as well and about 10 miles from the end my ass muscles relaxed and i could use my glutes again. i got my average back up to 19.9 mph by the end but the damage had already been done. I finished the bike in 2:48 and i thought the worst was behind me.

T2 went fast, a little over 3 minutes including a pee break. and i headed out on the run in my new brooks ravenna racing shoes. i loved my shoes so much i bought a second pair for races. if you haven't done a 70.3 before, your legs feel like you have run 13 miles about 1 mile into your run. the run was a 3 loop course, great for spectators but not so great for us. about 3 of the 4 miles was on a grass road on the side of a canal with huge tees on both sides. you might say, well that seems nice. on the contrary, it was hell on earth. it was hot, humid , miserable and no shade. not to mention the sand, bumps and ditches. it was a tough tough run, and after the first loop, i knew i had to do it all over again another two times.

So, every second of my 2:04 run was brutal. every second my body was telling me to walk a little and then i could run again when i cool down. but i kept telling myself that i could walk after i crossed the finish line. it was tough, as probably 70% of people were walking, but i kept telling myself, this is a race, walking is not an option. and i didn't, i finished the race in 5:39:15. just 2 minutes slower that my real goal.

it was awesome, awesome , awesome. if you have the balls, do it.

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It been a long day, bags are packed , mommy and baby are sleeping. I'm winding down for the evening, haven't been on my bike for a week, hope it still works, hope the legs are nice and fresh tomorrow for my race, if u want to check in on mr my race number is 2384 and u can check my spilt times on ironman.com

5 days to go

so just hanging out at home. need to go for a little run still today. i'm busy packing at the moment. always wondering if you've got everything. bike is already on the way with tri bike transport. that certainly wasn't a cheap option ( $300 ) but it sure is convenient especially because we are traveling for the first time with little 6 month old Kiera. thats gonna be fun.

So its off to Tampa bay tomorrow and then off to orlando on saturday for bike check in. Im getting nervous.

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So dropped my bike off today, it's on the way to florida. Feels weird not having my bike around. Check out tri bike transport next time you have to travel to a race. Wasn't cheap bit it's pretty convenient. I haven't worked out today yet, hopefully I can get to the gym later today and get on one of the spin bikes. Tonights plans, baby sitter for Kiera and it's date night for mommy ad me to celebrate moms first ever mothers day.

9 days to go

this was me getting some TLC on my knees on wednesday

so just 9 days to go until ironman 70.3 florida. i'm starting to get a bit antsy even though i haven't started my taper. i just need 1 more good ride and hopefully that will come tomorrow. thursday i had a great 8 mile off road trail run. today i had an awesome 1.4 mile swim in 41 minutes. If i can just get one more good ride in i think i will feel confident.

I will be dropping my bike off at the local bike shop tomorrow and i think that is making me nervous. i will be without "her" for an entire week and will only see her again on race day. thats crazy. and on top of that this is my first 70.3 race. of and not to mention i've only done sprint races. who knows how this is going to turn out. its all very nerve-wracking.

Im sure all will be ok, i've put in all the training and hard work. as my training buddy always says, train hard, race easy. lets hope so anyway.

12 days to go

so today was rough. work had me really busy. if you don't know i've started my own sporting goods company online. it keeps me really busy.

I didn't make it to the pool today but i did get out to my hill loop and do 3 laps ( 23 miles ). I just had one of those days that your legs feel like mush. TP will know what i'm talking about. i ran my practice 13.1 miles on sunday and i guess 2 days later your legs are not up to full strength yet. im going to be taking the day off tomorrow so my legs can recover a bit. ive learnt in the past that a day or two off can be a valuable time as your body feels great when you come back from it.

keeping it short and sweet tonight, i still have rocktape on my knees as they suffered a bit after my long run. they are feeling much better now. remember, if you email me i will send you a free sample. jason@rocktape.com

13 days to go

So its 13 days to go. 3 days left till i start tapering. Saturday was a bit of a waste as the weather was dodgy here in dallas so i just went out for an easy 15 mile ride that included some little hills as i knew sunday would be a big day for me.

I had a bike run brick planned for sunday. Sunday morning came and i tried something new for breakfast. i wanted something that was high in calories including carbs and protein and i remembered an advert when i was a kid that said " eggs give you the edge "so it was a egg, ham, cheese and ketchup sandwich for breakfast. And yes it was over and hour before my brick started so it had plenty of time to digest.

My brick that i had planned was a 9.7 mile bike ride followed by a 13. 1 mile run both on a fairly flat course to try and simulate my race that will be at disney world on may 16th.

The bike ride went great and i averaged 21.5 mph and kept my heart rate down below 150 so that was all according to plan. Then my friend derek came down and joined me for the first 8 miles of my run and also lent me his garmin 305 gps so that i could keep track of my run.

We started out at a very comfortable 8:15 pace and kept that going through most of the run. My legs felt great coming off the bike, even though it was only a 27 minute ride and not a 2.5 hour ride. At about mile 10 my feet really started to complain but it was ok and ran through the pain and eventually they fely better.

all in all i did the bike ride in 27 minutes and finished the run in 1:50 at a 8:24 pace. this was the first time i had ever run this distance and i was very happy with my effort. my goal is to beat my friends 70.3 time of 5:37 and if all keeps going well i think i can do it.

I had some pretty sore knees last night, which i guess is to be expected so i wrapped them up in rocktape and they feel pretty good this morning.

16 days to go

so had an awesome day off yesterday. hung out at the rocktape booth at the health source conference in dallas. had a great 56 mile bike ride on wednesday ( 2:50 ) nice little 4.2 mile trail run on thursday. this morning it was scheduled that i would hit the 28 mile hill intervals that i normally do but the weather was a bit dodgy and i had a flat tire so i fixed the flat and just headed out the door nd did a quick 15 miles from my house. big day tomorrow i will be doing a 9 mile bike ride followed by a 13 mile run. probably my last big run before race day. im doing the short bike ride before just to see how my legs will react.

sitting here now watching ironman st george on universal sports.com