Ironman Lake Placid: Race Report

Friday: Friday marked the start of my journey to Lake Placid. I had the car packed Thursday night so Friday morning left a short morning ride to loosen up before hitting the road. I left at 8:30 and pulled into Lake Placid at 2:30 and headed straight to athlete check in. It was a relief to have everything taken care of and it was a nice surprise to get some pretty cool swag. The backpacks are far nicer than the drawstring bags of the past.

Swag Bags!

After athlete check in, my Mom and I checked into the hotel and started unpacking. I got out for a short jog, where my legs were feeling great  for the first time in a long time. Once I returned from my jog, I started getting my gear together. The goal was to have the transition and special needs bags set before bed so the only thing I had to worry about on Saturday was bike check in. My OCD helped a little bit here as I had made a google doc of everything I wanted in each bag during taper week. The only thing I had to do was sort through my gear, get it in line, and consider which nutrition flavors I might like at which point in the race.


Saturday: I was really excited for Brian and Wills to show up on Saturday as I knew they would lighten the mood and take my mind off of the race. I woke up and finished setting my bike up. I made it out for a short ride with Steve and Welby before I checked my bike and gear bags into transition. By the time I took care of these items, Brian and Wills were in placid and I started to relax a lot more. We went for a short swim in Mirror Lake, grabbed some dinner at the Brew Pub, then it was on to the highlight of the evening:

Hotel Rowboat

We tucked into bed somewhat early Saturday night and despite an hour or so of tossing and turning, I passed out and got 6.5 hours of sleep.


Sunday: Sunday morning was a blur. I had a list of things I needed to sort out with my bags which allowed me to be on autopilot all morning. Once my bags were set, I headed over to drop off my special needs bags (RIP. I forgot to pick them up) and went to settle in near swim start. I quickly found Joe and chatted with him until my support crew showed up. I went for a short walk with Wills to chat a little bit and get my mind ready for the day I had ahead of me. Around 6:40 I headed into the water and got a nice spot on the front line, under the flags, about one-third of the way to the shore from the dock. Last year, I started far left and was boxed, losing contact with the lead swim pack and ended up swimming in no mans land all morning. The plan this year was to start in clean water, slightly to the right of this group. I thought that this position would allow me to watch fast swimmers coming across from the right while being able to quickly bridge any gap over to the lead swim group.

See you again for dinner.

The Swim (53:17, 16th OA, 4th AG): I had put a lot of thought into the swim and I couldn't have asked for things to go more according to plan. As seen in the map of my swim, I was able to move across to the cable slightly after the first 100m and to my surprise had pretty clean water the whole way across.

Swim start GPS map.

It took a little bit of jockeying and a few flying elbows but I settled into a swim group and it turned out to be exactly the group I needed to be in. The group stayed together the first lap and I was content sitting on some heels and swimming as easy as possible. I could tell we were really flying on this first loop although I did not expect to be through the first loop in 25:49. I knew that my swim could absolutley fall apart, I could drop a 30 minute second loop, and still emerge with the same swim time as I had last year. The second loop was very much the same, with a few people falling off the pace, leaving a few bridging efforts and a slightly slower second loop. I was ecstatic with the swim seeing that I was not very tired and did not have to do any of the work. I honestly don't think I sighted more than 5 times on the entire second loop. Couldn't be happier. There was a sizable group heading into T1 and I wanted to be smooth and get on the bike ASAP without rushing myself.

Heading to T1.

T1 (3:43): T1 went very well for me. I took the approach of less is more in my gear bags this year. I kept as much on my bike as possible, leaving the T1 list to:

• Towel off feet.
• Put on cycling shoes.
• Drink slimfast.
• Put on helmet.
• Put on flat kit (worn in a small waste pack).
• Put on race number.

Many of these things were done with the help of the volunteers, who I cannot thank enough. One of the perks of having a fast swim is being nearly alone in the changing tents with more volunteers than athletes. I had two volunteers helping me get on my way and one of the few things I remember is asking a volunteer to open my slimfast as I put on my cycling cleats and hearing "Sure thing man, I'll even shake it for you". It would be nice to have this class of assistance in transition at every race!
The plan was to be on the bike within the first hour of the race and the fact that I was starting my ride 56 minutes into the race, 4 minutes faster than last year in a portion of the race I didn't plan on saving any time, was a blessing and a curse.


The Bike (5:49:02, 131st OA, 3rd AG): There is no excuse for what happened in the first loop of my bike. I was leading the age group as I started the bike ride and I knew I wanted to take it easy heading out of town. My power numbers were where I wanted them to be, I was starting to take in some nutrition, and I wasn't getting passed as often as I thought I might. This should have been the clue that I was steering myself into dangerous territory. About 10 miles into the ride, I was finally tracked down by somebody in my age group. I let him go by, kept the gap steady between us, and was happy to see that my power numbers were still where they needed to be. We continued to ride near each other all the way through to 40 miles into the bike ride. I felt like I was riding easy, any gaps he created were shut down easily, and I was smiling ear to ear, probably due to the Keene descent. I told myself "This guy is heavier than I am, I'm riding easy, I can keep this up all day and toast him on the run course." I felt great coming around on the first loop and it was great to see friends and hear the crowd coming through town.

Loop 1 - Done!

Before I reached the first aid station on loop 2, 4-6 miles from town, disaster struck without warning. The ride out of town is pretty easy as you roll down hill and start to climb. I started having my first dizzy spell of the day and my power numbers plummeted. I couldn't push uphill what I had been pushing on the flats for the first lap, my legs felt like jello, and it my eyes were starting to bounce. I took the time at the next aid station to get a few bananas down, picked up a bottle of powerbar perform and took on an extra water bottle to keep my body cool as my head was burning up inside my helmet. I used the Keene descent to really nail down some nutrition and get my body ready for the remaining 30 miles of the ride. I was able to bring myself back a little bit with the powerbar perform drink but I was still weak and my mind was not working. At one point I tried to mix Nuun into a bottle that I thought I had just filled with water, the bottle was empty.
Around 20 miles left in the bike, the eventual AG winner passed me and I knew there was no way I Was going to keep pace with him. I wanted nothing more than to get off the bike and start the run, a place where I could have more control over my available nutrition. After an eternity of suffering, I dragged myself into T2, having a pitiful second loop of the bike, 17 minutes longer than my first loop.


T2 (2:05): I honestly cannot recall what happened in T2. All that was on my mind was that I was really happy my disastrous bike ride was over. I made it out as quickly as possible knowing that I'd rather spend a minute longer on the course, on the move, than spend time sitting in transition, not making any progress. I came out of T2 in 2nd in the AG with a small cushion back to 3rd.

Run Start.

The Run (4:20:57, 182nd OA, 3rd AG): I am always happy to make it to the run course in Lake Placid. In the grand scheme of things, a lot of the hard work for the day is done and I know that no matter how bad the marathon gets, I'll be done in a few hours. More importantly, the run course is special in Lake Placid as it is where you get the most support form the spectators, volunteers, and in my case, the Buffalo Triathlon Club.
I got a start on my run and immediately, I had my Billy Boi running alongside the road shouting to me that I looked strong even though he knew I had just had struggled through the second loop of the bike ride. Before I clicked off a single mile, I ran through town and passed the BTC support crew at the top of Rich Clarke Hill. I caught the group by surprise and I lied and told myself that it must be because I am so far ahead of schedule, when in reality, I was not. Sometimes, you just need to lie to yourself to get through a rough patch. The first 3 miles head directly out of town and as directly downhill. As you can see from my first few mile splits and all the way through mile 11 (mile 9 marks the start of the climb back into town), things were going stead and I was very happy with the early stages of my marathon. I was on 3:50 pace through 10 miles and was expecting to come through the first loop right around 1:55.

It is pretty clear to see that disaster struck for a second time in my race at mile 12. Once again, dizzy spells struck with no warning whatsoever. I was eating all different nutrition on the course, felt fine, and had just run the two hardest hills on the course without walking. Perhaps it was the extra energy spent climbing the hills or the excitement of seeing the BTC and my support crew at the top of Rich Clarke hill but as soon as I made it to Mirror Lake Dr., I was reduced to a walk. I remember seeing Joe on the side of the road on Mirror Lake Dr. When he asked me how I was doing, all I could manage was a vehement head shake indicating that I was in trouble. I could not make it up the final hill, leading to the short out and back section around the lake. At this point,I was having trouble seeing straight, my heart rate was dropping, my legs felt like lead, and I noticed that people looked concerned for me. After a closer examination, I realized I was stumbling all over the road and must have looked like I was on the verge of collapse. The only glimmer in this storm of darkness was that there was an aid station and special needs right up the road. I tried to jog to the special needs bags but it wasn't happening for me. I walked quite a bit, got my bag, ate an enormous amount at the aid station on top of pounding a slimfast. Had I been thinking more clearly, I would have changed my socks here but it wasn't until I made it around the out and back and returned to the aid station that I was thinking clearly enough to stop and change into dry socks.
I put the first half of the marathon course behind me in 2:04 which is better than I thought it was going to be, yet a far cry from the 1:55 I thought I had locked up. I started working my way back through town and could not wait to see my training partners and talk to them about my nutritional problems to see if they had any suggestions that I wasn't thinking of at the time. Almost as if he was reading my mind, I saw Steve jogging up the road looking for me. I can imagine he started to get worried when I hadn't come through Rich Clarke Hill when he was expecting me, 10 minutes earlier. I told Steve that my nutrition was going to shit and that I kept getting hit with waves of dizzy spells out of nowhere. I remember him telling me that I had a nice lead on the guys in my age group. He told me to stay consistent and that I could pull off a good placing as long as I played it smart on the hills and minimized my walking.

Steve giving me the game plan straight.

This was exactly what I needed to hear as the calories I took in at special needs were starting to bring me back. I waved one last goodbye to the BTC and set off down the hill for one more, lonely, out-and-back on River Rd. With the problems I was experiencing, I thought that this was going to be a very difficult loop with a lot of walking. I blacked out most of the out and back but I know that I made it from aid station to aid station without walking. It was very difficult to get going again after walking but I didn't walk for more than 45 seconds at any station. My mile splits were starting to settle in around 10:30-11:00 and I decided to keep them there until the end and bring it home up the hill with whatever I had left. I made it to the bottom of River Rd. and started my ascent back into town. I knew Wills would be waiting for me at the bottom of Rich Clarke Hill and to my surprise, I found Charlie about a mile before I was expecting Wills. Charlie jogged next to me, took my mind off the pain my legs were experiencing, and was confirming that I was in second place with a little room to spare (turns out the tracker was wrong and I was actually 3rd). Charlie carried me through to the bottom of the hill and Wills ran up the hill with me. I ran the hill until it became a substantial effort, walked for a little bit, then returned to a slow jog near the top of the hill. 

Billy Boi has my back.

The words of encouragement I heard from the BTC and my support crew resonated through my head all the way around the Mirror Rd out-and-back. I used this section of road in along with my improved mental state to put the pressure on for the last two miles, dropping to an 8:30/mile pace to bring it home. The power the mind can have over the body is amazing. I ended up opening the gap to 3rd (actually 4th) place and thought that I had a chance of qualifying. Turns out I was 3rd and both of the athletes ahead of me ran under 3:20.


Final Result (11:09:04, 182nd OA, 3rd AG): I was extremely happy to see the finishing chute this year. Last year it was a chance for celebration, this year it was the end of the battle of my life. Never before have I had so much difficulty on a course, although Dunkirk F1 is a close second, although much shorter.

Final charge to the finish.

Lessons Learned:

• Making it into the lead swim group is a must!
• Ironman is no cake-walk. A lot can happen out there over the course of an 11 hour day and you need to have a plan for everything.
• I need a lot more work with nutrition on the bike. I need to take special attention to putting myself in uncomfortable situations in training so I can learn how to deal with them. If that means starting a long ride hungry and taking all my nutrition on the bike, so be it.
• Need more long rides with power so I can narrow in on my power numbers.
• I need work at holding onto wattage goals on continuous rides over 3 hours.
• I can always use more work in the hills on the bike.
• The focus of the next Ironman will be setting up a good run as my goals cannot be accomplished if I dig myself into a hole on the bike.
• Ironman marathons are not pretty when you don't have a long run for 6 weeks leading up to the race, stay healthy! It doesn't matter how fit you are two months out of the race if you develop an injury (Achilles).
• Ideally, have a few training partners in the race as it can get lonely out there without familiar faces on the course. IMLP 2011 was awesome with a ton of Buffalo guys. IMLP 2012 was a  bit on the lonely side on the course.

Overall, I am happy with my results, taking into consideration the headwinds experienced on the way back into Lake Placid and my nutritional failures. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to experience an Ironman where very little goes wrong and another where 7 hours of the day are a battle. I think that when a race does not go to plan, you have a chance to learn a lot more than you would in a situation where things go well. I certainly prefer to have a smooth race although I prefer to take the positive spin on IMLP 2012. I did not have the day I wanted to out there, a repeat of my time from 2011 would have secured a Kona spot, and the wheels fell off but if used correctly, these things will help me become a stronger, smarter athlete when I make my return to Lake Placid in 2014.

Perfect end to the weekend.

I would like to that everybody for the support on the course. I am not sure I would have made it without my support crew and the help I received from the BTC. You guys make these races a truly special experience that I will not soon forget. I also want to thank my training partners, friends, and family for the support I received after the race. Things really didn't go my way, I was not happy with my race, I failed to reach my goal, but I still had the time of my life in Lake Placid. There was no need for people to pick me up and put me back on my feet since they never let me fall down to begin with. One of my favorite comments came from a guy who knows all about what I experienced out there. In more or less words he told me that he could tell I left my heart out on the course and that he was proud of me. I completely agree with him. Ironman is a crazy sport, I thought it would take a much faster time to qualify, and I went for it. It didn't work out the way I planned but with a support crew like this, how can it really ever be that bad?

I have unfinished business in Lake Placid and have yet to put together a nice ride there. I'll be back many times over the coming year, starting in 2014 and you better believe I'll be ready to throw down with this beast! Until then, thanks again and it's time to recover and get ready for Ironman 70.3 World Championships! To my friends that volunteered and supported me, you know I'll return the favor in 2013 and I hope to join you in 2014.