Building_An_Ironman's Blog

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report -July 20, 2008

12:28.07  - 2.4miles swim- 112miles bike - 26.2miles run

Well, it is one week since the Ironman finished and it is still digesting. What a day. First and foremost I'm very happy with the result considering the conditions up in Lake Placid last Sunday. I wound up finishing with a 12:28.07 time, and for a first Ironman, that was right about where I hoped to be on that course. Adding in the fact that during the race which officially runs from 7:00am to midnight (17 hours) it rained hard for 14 of those hours, I'm even more pleased.

So the wrap up goes like this. I'm up at about 4:30-4:45. everything has been taken care of days earlier, so I really just have to put on my swim suit, remember my "dry clothes" bag which has my wetsuit in it right now and goggles and cap, put on a sweatshirt and pants and wake up my wife to say good bye. I pick up my dad at his hotel so he can bring the car back over to Lisa for later and he drops me at the shuttle bus into Placid. I'm surprisingly calm. It's business at this point, but I'm enjoying it. At the Olympic Oval (the transistion area, finish line and Ironman central) I get to my bike to top off the tires, then head over to the body marking area to have my race number (865) and age scrawled on me with a sharpie, then I pull on the wet suit and start the 1/4 mile walk to the beach at Mirror Lake. Still surprisingly calm. It's about 6:20 or so.

At the lake, everyone is gathering and there is quite a crowd there as well. Still feeling very calm, sipping on a Gatorade and just waiting. Then a light rain starts up, but is brief and on and off. I see Lisa and my baby Hope with my mom and aunt at the start which is very nice. A perfect send off. Walk through the arch to "beep" my chip and into the water to wait for the cannon. It's a little cold once your wet and waiting, and I get a chill, but not for long. I start a bit off to the right and hope for clear water. I've heard tales of really tight condidtions. At the cannon we're off and I manage to find realatively clear water and swim a solid, and very relaxed first loop in 37 minutes or so. The second loop things have thinned out and I'm able to swim right on the cable that is set under the race course buoys, which make it easy to maintain a straight course. Nothing eventful and a relaxed 1:12 total swim time. Out of the water, my family hears them holler my name over the PA system, I do not. I get to the "stripping" area and they drop you on your butt and help you pull off your suit, lift you up and hand it back to you and your off on the 1/4 mile jog back to the transition area. I see Lisa, Hope and company, give a kiss to them and now it is raining. I mean downpouring. I get to tranisition, which is a muddy mess find my bike to swim bag and head to the change tent. Inside it is a completely dark, foggy tent of triathletes trying to quickly change into bike gear. I had to feel around blindly for things in my bag, bike gloves for example. "Are my shorts inside out? where are my glasses? Better put on sun screen in case the sun comes back out (yeah right) and cooks me for 6 hours." Finally out of there and a quick stop at the porta john then collect my bike. I'm moving at a very relaxed pace here, trying to focus on keeping my heart rate low all day. Then I'm out on the bike.

Instantly, I'm cold and not happy. It's dumping rain here. I focus on the job navigate the downhill out of town and then find a groove. Lots of folks in the area I'm riding. Drafting others is not legal, but there must be concession at this point, it's pretty cramped... About 5 miles into the race there is a 7 or so mile descent and on a clear day with dry roads you can get up to 50 miles an hour. It was really wet and nasty, so I ended up topping off at about 40. The real problem was at the bottom, my core temp had dropped due to the rain and 40 mph and I had only a race top on, which is a tank top. I'm chattering at the bottom thinking, give me some up hills so I can get my body temp back up. But there is another 6-10 miles of flat before you climb. About thirty miles into the loop, I stopped at an aid station and asked for some cardboard. If you watch grand tour riders they jam newspapaer into theie shirts for the descents. I figured cardboard would insulate and be a bit more durable. The kind lady at the aid station produced a trash bag and helped me cinch that on. I'd have to stop again later to tighten the drag strip parachute up, but it was keeping me warm now and my temp became comfortable again. Back into town (LP) there is a 12 mile stretch with a pretty continuous set of climbs. I was feeling really great on the climbs and was dropping folks all over. The problem for me was that I was hydrating well and not sweating, so had to stop to pee like 5 times.  I probably added 20-25 miutes to the bike for that, but I was enjoying it and had been told by everyone, "go easy on the bike, or your run will suffer". I did. At the final climb on the second lap, I saw Adrian, a friend from my swim group. He had come up to watch and sign up for next year on site. He hollered at me that I was looking great. I hollered back that I felt great. Then it was off to the run.

Back into the transistion area, now a series of ponds and mud. Someone grabs your bike and it goes away and you find your "bike to run" bag and go through the tent again. I made a point to get close by a door so I could see better and made better use of the time there. The volunteer in the tent asked if I had a marathon in me. I said, "yes, I have no choice". I felt really good anyhow and out the door I went. The run start is down hill for a half mile or so, which is interesting after the bike, and then you come up a good hill and flatten out. I was running well and got to the second aid station and got some cookies and gatorade. I ate pretty much everything they had on the course except pretzels. So, cookies (a few kinds), watermelon, energy gels, gatorade, oranges, bananas, chicken soup broth and maybe one or two other things. I was running about 9:00 pace which was fine. I hoped to keep the whole thing under about 4:20, and this would do that without a problem. On advice from friends who have done Ironman before, I intended to walk the aid stations and a few choice hills. I did this as planned to keep my heart rate in check. It worked perfectly. At mile 8 I met a guy who was just fed up with the rain (which was still dumping on us). I asked how he was doing and he mentioned that he had spent 35 weeks training for this and it was depressing him that this was the condidtions on race day. I said we were going to drag each other in and he was OK with that. We paced well and basically shot the #$%^ for a few hours, passing folks the whole way. Back in town, you get an energy boost from all the folks lining the street and it's nice because they print your name on your race number so people call out support to you. My running partner was named Mark also, so people had fun with that. The second lap was much of the same and only for a bit between about mile 19 and 23 did my legs feel not so good. Mostly my left knee and my calves which have been really tight for a bit here, probably due to bike volume.

The end of the race was great, I got my legs back and felt I could have gone on running. I paced at 9:38 which included the stops and hills, so probably was closer to 9:00-9:15 when running. Couldn't ask for more than that after 2.4miles swim and 112miles bike. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, my wife and kids, who were in the Oval when I finished, did not see me cross the line. It was a rainy mess of people there at the end. But I am and Ironman as a result. I can not thank my wife and kids enough for this chance to do this. It has been an incredible journey.  I also thank my Dad for helping Lisa with the kids on race day and giving up seeing me start the race to watch my older ones (who slept soundly in the apartment), and my mom and aunt who supported me in Lake Placid, as well. Also all the support during the year, from family, my swim group at South County YMCA, Fred for solid coaching and the race plan, Eric and Kristen for training with me and Ironman advice, Lee for tips up in LP, and all the others who helped get me there.

There will be another.

MW

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