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Dancer
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Joined: 21 Nov 2002
Posts: 2518
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 Posted: 07/29/04 - 12:10 Post subject: Inside the mind of an Ironman
My 2nd Lake Placid Ironman was just as great as the first minus the pouring rain and winds. My hubby and I arrived at Lake Placid on Thursday with Happy and 2 other friends. We had a condo on Lake Placid away from all the hype of the race. This year we were so much more relaxed on the days leading up to the race. On Saturday, we checked in our bikes and transition bags, went to the athlete’s meeting then relaxed the rest of the day. My MIL and FIL came up on Saturday night for the fun.
Race Day my alarm went off at 4:45 and I stayed in bed until 4:55. Went and turned the coffee on and searched for Happy. No sign of him. Hmmm should I wake him? I opened his door, “Mike…Mike…MIKE”. He so would have overslept if I didn’t wake him. Had a bagel with peanut butter, banana and cup of joe. The bagel didn’t want to stay down but I forced it down. Nearly broke into tears on the drive down to the start. We got body marked, filled the bottles on the bike, put my fuel belt in my run bag, got the wetsuit on and walked down to the special needs area to drop off the bags. On my way down I realized I forgot to put the extra accelerade in my run special needs bag. I was planning on topping off my fuel belt at the half way mark. Assessed the problem and decided I would drink one bottle then start to dillute the others so I could stretch it for the run. (Funny, when I picked up my special needs bag on Monday the extra accelerade was in there, I don’t know why I thought it wasn’t.)
SWIM: 1:25:02 (LY 1:26:17)
We literally got into place and the cannon went off. First lap was ok. A bit of kicking, getting stuck behind people stopping. Straying off too far right to keep out of the mosh pit. I made it around the first lap in 44min. Back in the water and on the 2nd lap tried to keep the buoy line in sight and had a much more relaxing swim the 2nd time around. Didn’t have to sight as much and tried to kick it in the last 300 yards. Did the 2nd lap around 41 min. Got out of the water heard my FIL shouting “go MT” and went to the first person to get my wetsuit taken off. On the run back to the transition area I saw Steve and our other friends on the left. Big smile for them.
T1: 10:28 (LY 14:something)
I’m not the best at transition but I knew I could make some time here. I had my pockets on the shirt filled already. Changed into bike shorts. Threw on the shirt, socks, shoes, gloves, helmet, glasses and arm warmers. When I put my shirt on I tore my number off and a volunteer had to re-pin it for me. (Next year I’ll plan on wearing the race belt on the bike.) Ran out and got my bike from a volunteer and was off.
BIKE: 7:28:50 (LY 7:39:54)
I love biking but I’m not great at it. When I left the transition area I was surprised how many people were on the course out of town. (Saw Steve and friends on the way out of transition.) There’s a bit of climbing until you get to the big down hills into Keene. I was passes by so many people on the way into Keene. Uphill and downhill. I felt like I was riding so slow but my heart was racing so I knew not to push it any further. There were people out on the course cheering at least every 3-5 miles on the first lap. It’s amazing how much energy I got off the spectators and volunteers. There was a band playing in someone’s yard on both laps, cow bells everywhere, traffic was stopped on the other side of the road and people were cheering, signs on the side of the road, signs chalked on the road itself, the volunteers were cheering, there were even 3 ladies who rode up a hill and stood there mooning everyone with something (I couldn’t read it) written on their butts. My two favorite parts on the bike are 1)The turnaround on the out and back. The volunteers are all dressed up in Christmas theme hats and Santa is standing at the turnaround. I knew how great it would be there I waited to go to the bathroom until I got there both times around. 2)The last big climb back into town. At the last hill there are so many people cheering it’s impossible not to feed off their energy. The first lap I passed about 5 guys going up that hill because of it. I got to the special needs bag and grabbed a PB&J, extra cliff bar, changed my 2 bottles with accelerade and was off. I was so excited I forgot to switch out my gu flask. I would have gone back for it but they had plenty of gu on the course I wasn’t too worried.
My first lap was 3:33 and I knew that was too fast for me and part of me was so excited. If I could hold onto that pace I could take 30 minutes off my LY time. Not. I couldn’t hold onto it. The sun came out and it got a little warmer out. I got a little tired, stopped to pee twice and on those breaks I talked to the volunteers while I stretched a bit. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t shot for the marathon. The last 20 miles on the bike my knees were starting to hurt and my calves were cramping. I’ve been having some knee issues during training so that worried me a bit. I finished the 2nd lap in 3:54. Slower but I’ll take it.
T2: 7:45 (LY 12:something)
I tried to be fast here. Changed my top, shorts and socks. Ate a mini bakers breakfast cookie, took some tylenol 8, put on sunscreen and was off.
RUN: 4:44:48 (LY 4:41:47)
The run starts with a gradual downhill for about the first ½ mile then you go down the “degree of difficulty” hill. The crowds were amazing. I saw our cheerleaders as I left the transition area. My knees were killing me, my right foot’s neuroma was killing me. I felt like I was running with a rock under my forefoot. I had a plan and I wanted to stick with it. My plan was to run as much on the first lap as I could and walk the aid stations. If I had to walk the first lap it would be on the up hills. I did just that. Walked most of the ups and the aid stations. My stomach was a gas bomb waiting to explode. I need to rethink the accelerade next time. I finally was able to take care of business around mile 7 and had the toughest time getting out of the porta potty. I was so emotional the first lap of the run. Every time someone said my name I felt like I was going to burst into tears as I thanked them. I was in so much pain with my knees and foot and didn’t know how much longer I could run like that. I did gu about every 3-4 miles, took water and chicken broth at most of the stations, drank my accelerade from my fuel belt and dilluted it as I the race went on. I got back to town and saw our cheerleaders again, gave Steve a kiss and ran off crying.
By the time I crossed the mat at the 13.1m mark (at 2:16:56) I told myself I had to quit the emotional roller coaster and enjoy myself. The 2nd lap my knees and foot were better but my hamstrings were in knots. I just dealt with it. I walked a bit more on the 2nd lap and around mile 18 I started to do the math in my head. I was trying to figure out what needed to be done to break 14 hours. It hurt to run and it hurt to walk. I figured I would run as much as possible to do what I had to do. Every mile marker I passed I would figure out the equation. I knew once I had 3 miles to go I would need to do 12min miles or better. I had 36minutes to do 3 miles to hit 14hours, not easy with the huge uphill I would have to walk up. I made it up the hill and ran to our cheerleaders. Turned right and went down Mirror lake drive, hit the turn around and I knew with ½ mile to go I was going to make it. The last ½mile is amazing. The crowds, the cheering, the music, the announcer. It’s all amazing. I made it to the finish line in 13:56:53. (LY 14:14:04). It was great.
Feeling as awful as I did on the run I ended up passing 230 people. I finished 1458 overall and 49/86 in my age group. Not the fastest out there but I finished. Bottom line: the people of Lake Placid make this race amazing. They really helped me going. And our own personal cheering squad Rocked!! My husband is the best in the world! I can’t thank him enough for all he has put up with from me. I can’t explain how it feels to finish such a race. I just can’t get enough of it and signed up again for next year. I can’t tell you how many time during training I said to Steve “don’t ever let me sign up for this again”. But I couldn’t help myself. There are things I need to work on and I need to figure out better nutrition for next year. I have 363 days to figure it all out.
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Once again, an amazing report from an amazing lady who did an amazing job at an amazing race!
:w00t: That totally rocked.
