Ironman USA Lake Placid - TriathlonFull Ironman

tim, k, and i chose ~25 meters behind the line in the center. mirror lake is great, but it was the most crowded swim i've ever done. no clean water until the second loop. goggles kicked once and even lost my swim cap on the second loop. ended up having a good swim though and felt smooth and strong.

put cap on better.

ran all the way to t1 and through the transition area once changed. wore the same jersey the whole day, but changed shorts every transition (trishorts->bikeshorts->trishorts)

nothing

felt good on bike right from the start. had goal of 16+, but could not really go by speed because the loop is so hilly you never can tell what your average will be until the end. i went entirely by hr (tried to keep it below 150). for food i went with a gu every :26 minutes the entire day and in addition i ate banana at every aid station on the 2nd bike loop.

i came upon heidi ~20 miles in. i didn't expect to see her until the run (if at all), and it worried me that i was going too hard and she was racing smarter than i was. she told me that tim had just passed and was up ahead, but i backed off slightly and made sure i followed my hr.
i got to see tim and heidi on the out and back, and then i spun up the hills and flew through town.

the start of the second loop was a little rough. i can't stay calm when the crowds are all there and always go too hard. once you get back out of town and the crowds thin out i always have to pay the price. i was ableto settle back down and get under control during the long downhill though. that thing is so fun. i was worried it would be dangerous, but with the entire lane and shoulder closed, it was great.

second loop was slower, but fine. i caught up to tim while he was taking a piss with ~10 miles left. didn't think i would see him at all either so all i could muster was a "nice weiner!" it was lame and the woman next to me who didn't know he was a friend thought i was retarded, but at mile 100 that's as witty as i could get. tim caught up shortly after and asked if i wanted to ride it in with him. hell yeah! anything to get my mind off those hills. we took turns hanging back from each other so we were never drafting, but we could exchange a few words when passing each other and made the ride back up into town much better.
checking the watch, i hit town much faster than expected and crazy finishing times started to dance through my head. settle down. there's still a marathon.

nothing. great bike.

came in with tim, but we split up to find open chairs. i noted where he was sitting and when i went to leave, his chair was empty, so i assumed he headed out expecting me to catch him.

nothing.

i stopped for the bathroom ~mile1 and took off to catch him. it turned out he was behind me and i didn't see him until the turn around.
i felt pretty good except for my left knee which has been bothering me for the last few weeks. the pain would come and go, but i could hold a decent pace inspite of it. i ran with a nice guy named dave for a while but i couldn't hold his pace without my hr creeping up to 160.
i made it to my second loop, but i still didn't know whether k (my wife) or nate had made the bike cut-off. it was their first im and i hadn't seen them all day. i started doing some math and realized that if i held a 10:00/mile pace i could break 12:00hours, but unfortunately i started to realize that if i didn't see nate or k any minute, they must not have started the run. having to run the final 7 miles already knowing one of them didn't make it would have been awful regardless of my finishing time.

just then, nate comes around the corner looking great and just behind him k yells to me. what a beautiful sight!!! now i was ready to run! laura and ron made a long trek out to the run out and back and were cheering each of us on and running along side us for a while. that was the last push i needed to make it back to town. i pushed through the last few miles into town and to the last turn around. from there was the best part of the run. all fast downhill and right by my friends and family on the sideline. i hit the finishing track on the speedskating circle and went nuts with a final sprint to the end. 12:00 was still nowhere in sight.

nothing. finally ran a sub 10:00/mile marathon!!!
i should have put on more sunscreen though.

i grabbed a massage and then went back to the finish to see heidi and tim come in with great finishes. i then went to the tent our friends and family had on the course and cheered on taco. when the sun dropped, it got cold and rainy. nate and k were still out there, but nothing could stop them now. we went to the finish and saw them become ironmen. beautiful! 6 for 6 and 21 for 21!


i guess training. i was able to shave time off every event and nutrition seemed right on. the knee pain on the run caused pain, but didn't seem to slow me down too much.


IM USA is awesome. course is tough at parts, but i love the bike loop and the swim is great. spectators and volounteers are amazing. without them none of this would be possible. the town of placid is great as well. i would move there in a second.