Lake Placid, NY
My introduction to the Ironman came when I was young and got an Ironman branded Timex stopwatch. My dad tried to explain the race to me but I couldn’t conceptualize the idea that people could really swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run a full marathon in one day. I already thought marathoners were super human so completing an Ironman couldn’t be possible. While the story below outlines the final three days of my trip to Ironman Lake Placid 2009 this story doesn’t begin do justice to my long journey into the sport of triathlon and many hours of training and joy it has brought me. It has been an awesome trip thus far that will hopefully continue as long as I do. While I won’t be able to do another Ironman distance race for the next few years due to graduate school, I will definitely revisit this distance in the not too distant future.
I arrived into Lake Placid late on Thursday night. As Friday morning rolled around I took a quick jog from the hotel down to Mirror Lake. The first thing I noticed was that nothing is flat around Lake Placid. This would definitely make the race interesting! The second huge realization was how the town had been taken over by fitness fanatics. Everywhere I went people were running, biking, swimming, hiking, etc. It was awesome to see physical activity breaking out all over the place. After my run and a cruise around the lake area I picked up my rental race wheels (and disc) and headed to the check in. The check in was more intense than any other race I’ve done as it came complete with a weigh in. Pretty cool. After signing my life away and collecting tons of goodies I met up with my family and headed out to drive the bike course and find out just how hilly “hilly” is.
Hilly turned out to be hilly. The course had some very long downhills on roads ranging from perfect to bumpy. The uphills were longer than I was used to coming from the NYC area. All in all it was going to be a challenging day on the bike but not out of reach.
My first day ended with a relaxing swim in Mirror Lake. The temperature was perfect. A few strokes into my swim most of my pre-race nerves disappeared and I settled into the beauty of the place. The scene was complete with competitive kayakers whizzing by and many compression sock clad people marching the streets. I was as close to heaven as I could be in that lake.
The day before the race was fairly relaxed after I succeeded in getting a good night’s sleep. I started my day with an hour long ride along the run course. The course was pretty and ran alongside a stream. Similar to the bike course, the run course had its share of hills with the hardest towards coming at the end of the loop. After my ride and watching the final stage of the TDF I did a quick 15 minute run. With all of my training officially complete I focused on lunch and then a nice drive around the greater Lake Placid area with my dad.
I ate an early dinner of spaghetti and chicken and got to bed around 6pm. Despite the adrenaline I was able to sleep soundly until around 3am. While I planned to sleep another 45 minutes there was no way I could get back to sleep. I decided to start eating my 2 PB&J sandwich breakfast and to prepare my bottles. Race day was finally here!
I headed down for the opening of the transition area at 5am with my two bottles of Perpetuem. Once my tires were inflated and I dropped off my special needs bags I hung out with my family on the beach of Mirror Lak
e. We had ~1 hour to kill and spent it talking and watching hordes of people flood the area. 30 minutes before the start I suited up and made my way through the sea of spectators to the athlete entrance. Passing a huge jumbo-tron showing the starting line I started to get nervous again. The circus was about to begin and I’m a part of the show.I crossed the timing mat and dove into the water. Since I’m a slow swimmer I had no plans to get near the front. After a series of cheers and tons of cameras flashing from the beach the countdown began and a canon went off at 7. (Watch on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW-9dGGRuwQ ) As smoke filled the air I dove in to start my journey.
I spent the whole swim surrounded by people
and constantly colliding with them. I took an aggressive line but once there I figured it was easier to stick to it versus move to the outside. Beyond a few hard hits on the head all was good. As I finished my first lap I decided to go wider for my second. I did this and before I knew it I was coming onto the beach 1:23 later. Not impressive but not nearly as bad as it could have been (I wasn’t pulled out by one of the scuba divers). Time to do things I’m better at.After a quick change I headed out on the bike. The downhill section was tough because there was some wind which pushed me around with the disc wheel. I was cautious and kept my speed between 40-45mph but others were RIPPING by me. It would have been pretty cool to bomb it but I didn’t want to skin myself. Once the course flattened I hit my groove and put in a conservative first lap. I felt strong on the hills and ended the first lap with a trip through the town and the massive crowds. The support was really exhilarating! By my second lap the win
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d had really picked up which made the descent much scarier. I was blown around quite a bit and had to back off. Once I hit the bottom I was relieved although the wind never let up. I pushed a bit harder although all of my extra effort went to keeping my time basically flat. The volunteers/spectators were really great. I loved the various themes/parties lining the roads. I’m not sure if the athletes or spectators were having more fun! I finished the bike in 6:21 with 17.64 mph average speed.I started the run around 3pm feeling pretty good. The first half marathon went smoothly. I was consistently drinking coke/Gatorade and my pace was steady. Around mile 15 things went south. My stomach started hurting and my energy disappeared. I had to stop twice at bathrooms although after 5-10 minutes of misery was finally able to get going again albeit with little energy. As the day wore on it was interesting to see the various athletes making their way through the day and dealing with the challenges. I had my eye on breaking the 12 hour mark and knew it was going to be close given my delay. At mile 20 a knowledgeable fan read my mind and told me I can finish under 12 if I can put out ~10 minute miles all the way back. Unfortunately the final 10k included the biggest hills of the day but I chose to ignore that fact and push on. I put my head down and put one foot in front of the other. An hour isn’t a long time, right?
I chugged along like this until the end. While it was painful it felt really good to mitigate the part of me that said I should stop and rest and just get it done. I was consistently dropping 9 minute miles and staged a recovery from the low just 5 miles before. As I attacked the final hills and the crowds grew and grew. As I ran into town I realized I was close to fulfilling my dream of becoming an Ironman. This realization was bitter sweet as the journey was about to be complete. With less than half of a mile to go I knew I would make it to the line and no farther. The roar of the crowds carried me through the streets and into the arena for the final few yards. As I came down the finishing area through the bleachers and heard Mike Reilly announce my name and tell me I was an Ironman I was pumped! I ran my first marathon in 4:03 and finished my first Ironman in 11:58:38. I accomplished goal and finished before 7pm. When I crossed the line I was completely spent, the first time I’ve ever finished a race with nothing in reserve. After a quick consultation with a doctor and more coke I ate some pizza and headed to the hotel to shower and prepare for dinner with my family. We capped off the day cheering on athletes finishing towards the midnight cutoff. What a day!
☼ MRC ☼
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