Ironman Lake Placid Race Report

Ironman- yeah that is just a cool race name.  Iroman Lake Placid was my 3rd Ironman and I had very high goals for this race.  It was my A race and I trained specifically to be ready to have a great race.  Training for IMLP officially started on December 1, 2012 during the Spinervals 32 Day Challenge and included a 3 day on course training camp.  Going into IMLP I was ready. Ready to break my PR, ready to break 11 Hrs and ready to see how close I could get to a Kona Slot.

But my day ended up not being a day of goals.  Disappointed- sure.  BUT FINISHING AN IRONMAN IS CRAZY HARD.  Am I happy with hearing Mike Reilly call me across the finish line- hell yeah.

So on to the report.

I was really excited to have my wife and girls along with my mom, dad and super sherpa sister come to LP.  Having fans is awesome, especially on a course like LP- 2 loop everything.  So on Thursday morning the girls, Sue and I drove up to one of the greatest sports meccas in the entire world.  Imagine finishing an Ironman in the Olympic Speed Skating Oval that Eric Heiden dominated in 1980 & right below the arena that we beat the Soviets and then Swedes to win the Gold in Hockey.  Yeah Lake Placid!  As you drive into town you pass the Bob Sled/ Luge courses and see the Ski Jumping hills. And the number of bikes on Subarus is crazy cool.

Once we got to town, we went right to athlete check in- really easy although parking was a bit of a pain.  But the race swag was pretty sweet- a really cool backpack (I like backpacks) and free stickers. Well the stickers weren't supposed to be free, but they were printed with the wrong date.  After getting my gear we went to our hotel- which was right on the bike and run course and had a great indoor pool.   I then met up with a good Spinervals training/ racing buddy Ginny Angus and we swam one loop of the swim course.  For those of you not familiar with Mirror lake- the swim has a white cable underwater which allows you to follow the course as if you were swimming in a pool.  Fast!!!  Ginny and I had a good swim and chat about the race.  We both had high goals and had trained together a month earlier in the camp- we both felt good and ready to have great races.  Ginny did for sure and more on mine soon.

The next few days were a bit of training, a bit of kid stuff and a bit of relaxing.  If you go to LP with kids go to Santa's Village near Wilmington- you will have fun.  And before long it was 10 PM on Saturday night- no I was not sleeping but felt great about toeing the line for IM #3.

Sunday morning Super Sherpa picked me up at 4 and we drove to the oval.  The morning was cool, but not cold- definitely not like IMNYC which was crazy stupid hot.  Transition set up for an IM is simple- hang your bags since you don't set up near your bike like most triathlons.  As the sun came up I had the chance to run into Merle, Lola and George in Transition- so cool to have friends at the race.

Soon it was time to get my wetsuit on, drop off special needs and get ready for the swim.  This year LP was trying a new approach to reduce swim anxiety- allow swim warmups and a rolling swim start instead a mass crazy charge into the water. While the mass start did not really bother me, the rolling start meant maybe cleaner water and less violence in the first few hundred meters.  Yea maybe not...

After warm-up I got to my swim corral- the 1:11-1:20 group.  I was feeling like a 1:10 - 1:12 swim was in the cards and figured the front of the 1:11 group made good sense.  While waiting for the race to start I ran into Ginny- we chatted quick and wished each other luck.  Then the cannon boomed and within a few minutes we were in the water. It was not crazy initially but soon I was swimming over all sorts of people.  People who self seeded into a much faster group.  During the entire 2.4 Miles I passed several hundred people - I was constantly swimming from one scrum to another.  And I felt great, except for the ASSHOLE in the red wetsuit who thought breaststroking into the aussie exit was a good idea.  Dude you Fucking Suck with your big frog leg kick. He kicked me in the throat as we were exiting the water for the second loop.  There was no reason for breast stroke there.  As I started the second loop my throat hurt a bit, but I still felt strong and soon I was rounding the dock for the exit.

Swim Time 1:09:36- nailed it.

But leaving the water I noticed that it was raining- and the bike has a long steep crappy descent that is not rain friendly.  Oh well race the race you have.

Transition was quick- I was calm and knew what I needed to grab out of my bag.  Shoes, no socks, helmet, glasses, no gloves (never ever), arm sleeves (went with coolers- good choice) and off to get my bike.  The volunteers are supposed to grab your bike from the rack and bring it to you- well that did not happen for me, but I am cool with that and I was out of T1 in good time.

T1- 6:46.  Now 6:46 is stupid slow.  But at LP, you have a 300 yrd run to transition, have to grab your bag, get your gear on and put your swim gear in the bag, then get your bike.  So 6:46 for an IM is good.

The bike was a two loop 56 mile per loop course.  The first 15 miles is mostly climbing until you reach a long 7 mile screaming downhill- in the rain.  But before I get to that fun stuff it is important to mention where my family was going to be.  My parents were staying at the Mountain Brook - right by the Haselton out and back so we decided they would watch me there.  My wife and kids were at the Econo Lodge on 73 so could see me twice on the bike and 4x on run.  And super Sherpa well she would be everywhere.  At the start of the bike, she was right below the high school and seeing her as I got started was perfect.  Super Sherpa comes to my Ironmans- to make sure I am okay especially post race.  So I saw her right away and felt good.

Now back to the bike- rain was spitting from the sky and ground and lots of standing water over the first 20 miles including the keene descent.  When I was at the Spinervals camp in June, I hit over 50 mph on the keene descent.  On lap 1- about 35.  But soon I was passing the post office and on my way to the easy out and back.  I kept repeating race your race and this is lap one.  And I road pretty easy and felt great.  And before long I was back in Jay climbing to Wilmington.  Having trained on the course made me feel good that I knew what to expect and when to hammer vs. spin easy.  As I descended into the Wilmington I could hear Super Sherpa's dog, AndyLab bark and then saw my parents- very cool to have family on the other side of the race course and AndyLab looked relaxed.  The climb back into town was good and before long I was on Lap 2.  I saw Super Sherpa right after the oval and then saw my kids at the econo lodge- WooHoo!  Lots of family support in 1 hour.  However as I got to the top of the Keene descent I realized something was wrong- I felt sick.  I was struggling to get calories in and when I did I gagged and threw up.  Fun times.  But this is were training kicks in- you just keep going even when you feel like shit.  And knowing the course meant I knew that if I could fight through the next 30 miles I would only have to climb back into town and then run a marathon.  But it meant I had to face facts- today was not going to be a great day but I would see my parents, sherpa, wife and kids on the course.  So head down and lousy stomach I pushed through.  I felt crappy but miles kept moving and after passing my parents at Haselton it was time to climb back into town.  Best two parts- doing a sweet wheelie at the campground and the bears.  The bears are TdF style with fans (not grade...) but so worth it after 110 miles.  And after riding down Mirror Lake drive I was back in Transition ready for a run.  My stomach felt crappy, but I knew I only had 26.2 to go.  The finish line was far but I would get there.

Bike 6:01:32- about 20 minutes slower than I wanted.

T2- 3:56.  Happy with this especially since I took my time.

Run- Well I knew it would tough, but I also knew what to expect.  The first 4 miles are easy and I figured maybe I could get some calories in and start running faster.  I did learn that wearing a fuel belt is not gonna happen again- too much bouncing on a bloated stomach is not fun.  Best part of the first out and back was seeing my daughter katherine and giving her a hug.  My body did not feel better but my spirit did.  As I shuffled my way along the course Ginny passed me- she reminded me that she was gonna chick me- and she was running great.  I ended up doing  mix of running/ walking and finished the first lap starting to feel a bit better.  On the second lap, I ran more than I walked- still slow but I felt slightly better.  My goal became to run under 5 hrs.  Passing the Smith kids for the final time I really started to feel good and Felt that as long as I kept running a Sub 5 hr marathon was doable.  The best part of the last 2 miles was seeing Alan MacDougall who was not racing, near the Boathouse.  Alan was wearing his TdF polka dots (guy climbs like a mountain goat)  and I yelled to him- he ran with me for about 50 yards then took (while running) a kick ass picture (now my profile pic).  After that I passed the turn around point and had LESS than a mile to finish.  Running back towards the Oval was awesome.  Tears began to flow and as I turned into the last straight away I could see Mike Reilly in the tower.  I pointed to him and then the most magical words you can hear- David Smith from Sparta NJ YOU ARE AN IRONMAN.  Never gets old.

Run-4:52:48
Total- 12:14:38

Not the day I planned for, but the day I got. I worked hard and earned the finish and that rocks And 2014 is already planned- IM Texas.

Ironman racing is hard- crazy hard.  But so awesome.  And at the end of the day it does not matter how fast you are- crossing that line is beyond special and to my friends who know what it is like well you know.  And those who want to - train hard because it is Worth It!