IMLP Bike Course 2006
Ironman USA Lake Placid Race Report - Sunday July 23, 2006.
Ironman Distance Triathlon: 3.86 km Swim, 180.2 km Bike, 42.2 km Run
Website: www.ironmanusa.com
The drive down to Lake Placid takes between 5.5 and 6 hrs, via the Cornwall bridge crossing. I regularly stay at the KOA at Whiteface. My first 2 years there I did the tent thing but never again. I now rent a Kamping Kabin (which holds up to 6 people), which has beds. Washrooms and showers are only a short walk away and are kept immaculately clean. A great low cost option where you can use that saved money for race wheels, etc.
On Thursday morning Angus (friend of mine doing the race too) and I went for a 22 minute swim. My first open water swim in the Aquaman Bionik Wetsuit felt slippery, fast, and very comfortable. Afterwards I ran into fellow Team Running Free athletes, Rick Choy and Mike Leader. We then headed off to register. The process is very quick, and after a passing through the Expo to get free samples, I stopped to chat with the Chris Travers (Profile Design), Michael Folan (Infinit Nutrition), Frank Day (Power Cranks), and Vinu Malik (Fuel Belt). We made our way back to the KOA and went out for a quick 36 minute ride along the Whiteface section of the course. My legs felt lethargic but I chalked that up to it being a taper week.
On Friday, I swam for 21 minutes (7th swim of the year and last before the race). My left shoulder popped out of place a wee bit (one reason why I don’t swim a lot) and was stiff and sore. After the swim, I did a quick 20 minute run along Mirror Lake with a couple of friends. The legs felt fresh and ready to be let loose on race day. My friends and I did another pass though the Expo for more samples. I stopped at the TPMassageball booth and Cassidy did some work on me to get rid of my shoulder pain and stiffness. It worked and the pain was virtually gone while the range of motion returned as well. The Welcome Banquet was a fairly plain affair. The food was a bit more plentiful than the previous year but it is still not worth the $25-30 it costs to bring guests. I suggest that you spend the money on a nice dinner in town.
Saturday’s plan was to check in my bike and transition bags as soon as the oval opened at 10 am and then get the heck out of there. I have learned from past experience that if you leave it for later, the line up to get into transition gets ridiculously long and you do not want to be standing around in long line-ups the day before the race. I had a nice Chinese and sushi lunch, shopped briefly, and then grabbed some Subways subs for dinner later. Back at the KOA I prepared my nutrition for race day. I planned on exclusively using Infinit Nutrition the entire day (they custom make a drink formulation based on your needs), so I had to mix concentrate to carry with me all day.
Race Day - My 37th Birthday (What a way to celebrate)
I woke up at 3 am and drank 2 bottles of Boost along with a Quaker Oatmeal to Go Bar (Oats & Honey flavour), then went back to bed to catch some more shut-eye. Woke again at 5 am, drank another bottle of Boost, ate one more Quaker bar, and sipped Gatorade and water while I prepared my stuff to get down to the race site. We parked just outside if town and walked a mile to the race site. Conditions were cool and calm, too bad this would not last for the rest of the day.
I made my way into the transition area to pump my tires, put my nutrition on my bike, and do a final check of my transition bags. I headed back onto the street to get body marked, made my final “pit stops”, put on my wetsuit, and made my way down to Mirror Lake. At that point I said my goodbyes to my “race crew” (wife and 3 friends). I hooked up with Angus in the water and we waited for the cannon blast to signal the race start. Off the cannon went and the chaos began.
The first 10 minutes was a huge battle for space, the worst I’ve experienced in my 8 years doing this race. It was quite apparent that there was a lot of first time Ironmen in this race (over 400). People were stopping and treading water, breast stroking, and swimming crookedly. Frustrated, I decided to get out of the big mess of people by heading wide. This was much better for getting into a calm rhythm but the drawback was that I had no one to draft off of. I got to first turnaround buoy and got punched in the head. I am pretty sure it was intentional but I let it go and used my anger to fuel a bit of a surge to move away from that group of swimmers. I soon found a big dude in the water that was swimming at a speed slightly faster and clearing out everyone in his path. I hooked unto to him and drafted off his feet right into the finish. I recall a 42 minute first lap. Not mind blowing speed but I will take it. For the second lap I lost my draft partner and stayed close to the underwater buoy line (a unique feature at Lake Placid). Staying along the line was still busy at this point but I toughed it out and created my own space right until the end. I finished the swim in 1:26:29 with an average heart rate of 142 bpm. Got my wetsuit stripped off quickly and made the long run into transition.
The change tent was a busy place. I saw Angus there already so he must have had a good swim. I got changed fairly quickly and ran out only to discover that I didn’t have my sunglasses with me. It was still cloudy at that point but I did not want to be bombing down that 10 km downhill section at 70+ km/hr without them. So I ran back into the tent, where after 10 minutes I finally found it. Not a good start to the day. I was certainly hoping that it was not a sign of bad things to come.
I could go into great detail about the 180 km bike ride but I wont. Have you ever had one of those days when you legs felt like cement? Well this was that day for me. I knew I was in trouble after about 2 hours. I was taking to easy and aerobic but whenever I wanted to pick up the pace my legs felt dead and extra speed never came. I did the first lap in 3:23:47 (avg HR: 144), which is ridiculously slow for me and made any ideas of a PB likely out of the realm of possibility. However, I decided to make to best of the day and hold a steady pace for the second 90 km, get in my nutrition and save my energy for the marathon. Throughout the ride, the weather kept changing. There was rain, wind, cold, and heat. Quite nuts. I finally completed the bike in 7:13:56, my worst ride ever. My pedestrian like pace was confirmed by my average heart rate of 137 bpm. Too bad everything felt great except my legs. Grrrr!
I hustled my way into the change tent and to get out on that run as quickly as possible. I wanted to redeem myself from such a crappy ride. I did wonder if my legs were going to feel the same out there on the run but I made my mind up that I was not going to walk unless I physically couldn’t. I headed out of the change tent and saw my buddy Angus at the exit putting on some sunscreen. I was now motivated to at least stay ahead of him. He did not want to race in Lake Placid next year but we joked that if I beat him by an hour then he must come back.
I ran the first mile in 8 minutes, and kept going at a fairly good clip. I continued using my Infinit Nutrition in concentrate form, pouring a little into a cup of water as I reached each aid station. The plan was to use it for the first 2 hours and then survive on coke the rest of the way. I progressively slowed down throughout but finished that first lap in 2:16:24 (avg HR: 142). I saw Rick Choy and Mike Leader out there and we cheered each other on. Rick looked like he would finish in the 12 hr range and I was happy for him. Mike was just ahead of me and looked fairly good in his first Ironman. My legs were starting to feel it by the 21 mile mark, and I resisted the temptation to walk several times. I just keep telling myself that unless I am cramping (an issue I have experienced in the past that now seems to have been solved by my Infinit Nutrition formulation) I have no reason to walk. I am sure my “Ironman shuffle” was as fast as my regular walk but I was not actually walking. I kept pushing hard to the end (especially that long final uphill section in town) and finished the marathon in 5:01:20 (avg HR: 137) and clocked an overall race finish time of 14:02:27. According to my Polar 625x, I burned off 11 872 calories, my average heart rate on the entire day was 139 bpm, and my heart rate peaked at 164 bpm (meaning that I never went anaerobic).
I was hungry so immediately chowed down on some pizza, coke, cookies, and a turkey sandwich. I got a nice massage and found my friend Angus who got a personal best of 14:31:44. This meant that he didn’t have to race next year but I knew I could still convince him. By 10 pm it started pouring rain, I felt for those poor souls still out there on the course because by now it was quite chilly. I got all my stuff together, walked down to the car and drove back to the KOA.
The next day I was not as sore as I thought I would be and we headed to the Horseshow Grounds to sign up for next year’s race. While in line we were informed (at 9:30 am) that the race was sold out online, and that the only spots left were for us in line. The race was eventually totally sold out in 90 minutes. Once you have experienced this race you will understand why people are dying to get in. The atmosphere can’t be matched and the people of Lake Placid make it their duty to make you feel welcome and totally catered to. The organization and attention to detail by Ironman North America is top notch. I have never experienced a better race out there. That is why I will be returning for my 9th race in a row and I plan on doing all of them until the day I am no longer able.
By the way after 8 years of coming down here to race I finally made it to the top of Whiteface Mountain. This is a must do for anyone coming to this area because the view is incredible. See below.
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