FLEMING ISLAND - About halfway through her 112 mile bike segment of the Chattanooga Ironman Triathlon on Sunday, September 27, Sydney Nelson remembered the impact of finally being in the moment and it all hit her to the extent that she found herself crying.
"It had finally hit me at about halfway into the bike that I was finally there," said Nelson, now 26 and in school at University of North Florida for her physical therapy aspirations. "From there, I was a little more relaxed about the whole thing, but knew I had the marathon run to still do."
Nelson, a 2018 Fleming Island High graduate cross country and track runner, had had a handful of sprint, Olympic distance and even half ironman triathlons under her belt prior to signing up for Chattanooga Ironman in March.
"That gave me about six months to prepare for the Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run), but I was competing in the other races prior to that since my first in 2018," said Nelson, now 26. "I had a friend with me from the University of Florida Gator Triathlon club ask me to join her in training because I was a runner."
Nelson embarked on her journey with a summer dedicated to the Chattanooga race primarily because she had the time off to train.
"I graduated 2022 from Florida with my degree in Psychology and Spanish, but got interested in the physical therapy after that," said Nelson, looking for her DPT; Doctor of physical therapy, in a few years. "I was working in a research lab (neuroscience) in Gainesville, but that was ending and I was going to have pretty much the whole summer before starting school again. I figured I could train all summer."
Nelson documented mileages of a 15-20 hour training week to include a couple of century rides (100 miles), sets of two hour runs and 4,000 yards of swimming.
"Usually it was a Friday-Saturday-Sunday of long swim, bike and runs with easier sets Monday through Thursday," said Nelson. "I did a July 27 Olympic triathlon in St. Augustine and the Hammerhead 2K ocean swim on August 16 prior to the Ironman."
Nelson's finish at Chattanooga included a 13 hour, 19 minutes, 11 second total time for 16th in her 25-29 age group.
The top finisher in 25-29 was Emily Hooke, in 10:46.36. Hooke was 29th out of the water with a one hour, seven minutes, 41 second split, but had the second fastest bike split (5:41.41) and the top run split for her age group with an astounding 3:47.40.
Nelson had her best swim with a 56:31 split for 12th best in her age group, then spent 10:43 in transition, stayed at 12th with her bike split at 6:41.11 with a much faster 7:03 transition time before having a run split of 5:23.43 for her first ever marathon run that was 16th fastest in her age group.
"I was very happy with the run split because I had had some knee pain the prior two weeks and didn't know if the run was going to be a problem," said Nelson. "My transitions were a little slow because I was just getting oriented to go to the next segment."
Overall, Nelson was 16th in her age group, 107th female finisher and 651st overall. There were more than 3,000 finishers for the race.
As a high schooler at Fleming Island, Nelson, a senior, ran on the Fleming Island cross country team that featured Emma Millson, Julia Franzoni and Jennifer Fliess as the top runners for the team with Nelson fourth for Fleming Island at the 2017 region 1-4A championship race in 23:01.53. Katherine Harlamor was a freshman as the fifth region finisher for Fleming Island.
Nelson's chronology into an Ironman started in 2018 with a Great Floridian in Clermont sprint triathlon (quarter mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) and grew as her training improved.
"I was on a regular bike with no clips, swam in a regular swim suit and knew nothing about triathlon," said Nelson. "I had never heard of triathlon before going to college. I just ran into a friend in college and she roped me in. I thought it was the hardest thing that I had ever done. I was crying by the end of it."
Nelson noted that her run training was not enough to be ready to take on a three mile run after the swim and bike segments.
"I think what made it easier to think triathlon was okay was that I got second in my age group that day," said Nelson. "There were only three girls but it still was cool to get a medal on my first try."
Nelson's competitive nature got her back into the training to improve on her performance from Clermont.
"Once I recovered, I decided to train right and do one again just to do better," said Nelson. "I eventually did two half ironman races; 2019 and 2021. After I graduated 2022, I kind of thought I was done, but I missed it."
Nelson eventually got "roped" into the UF Triathlon club via friend Lexi (of Arizona) which had an added bonus for racing beyond the training camaraderie.
"They paid for all the races I went to," said Nelson. "So I started just racing as much as I could."
Nelson then purchased a used quality bike from "a guy" she knew in a bike shop and her triathlon game was on.
With a bank of training under her belt, Nelson again was pursuaded by a "group of friends" to try an Ironman.
"I knew I was leaving my job in Gainesville and had the summer off," said Nelson. "I trained all summer."
For Nelson, Chattanooga was a great swim; under three bridges and with a river current.
"I was under an hour for the swim and in good shape," said Nelson. "My transition was long just to reorientate my legs. The bike was very windy and very sunny hot with hills, very intense."
Nelson survived the bike and had a quicker transition to the run.
"I had some Goos for nutrition on the bike, but didn't take much in on the run," said Nelson, noting her go-to snack is red potatoes on the run. "One of the keys of triathlon is nutrition to get to the finish line."
Nelson had a solid group of supporters with her in Chattanooga including parents Rick and Deborah Nelson.
"My parents did some pre race recon the day before so they could be at as many spots on the race as possible," said Nelson. "It was cool to have them pop up at different parts of the race."
Nelson noted that the traditional blasting of the PA system (Sydney Nelson, you are an Ironman!) was never heard as she ran the final 200 yards.
"I was so focused on just getting to the finish line that I never heard it," said Nelson. "The whole red carpet treatment was pretty neat though, but afterward the long drive home wrecked my legs."
Nelson ended with a "maybe one day" for another Ironman on her schedule.