Ironman USA Lake Placid - TriathlonFull Ironman

The best swim of my life. I lined up about two-thirds of the way outside and behind the crowd at the front. I noticed that there were two distinct groups at the start: the tightly packed group at the very front and the even tighter pack standing back on the shore waiting for the front group to go first. There was a vast open area between the two groups. I waited in this area, checked with a guy next to me as to what his planned time was (he said about 1:20) and started there. There was no crowd near me at the start, the people in front of me took off ahead of me, and I made it the first hundred yards without too much bumping. The swim went pretty smoothly for me. I eased my way over to the left (toward the cable) as the opportunity presented itself and by the second loop found myself on the cable for most of the return. I just tried to swim smoothly, keep good form, draft when the opportunity presented itself (which it did pretty frequently given the number of people in the water), and stay aerobic. I was thrilled after the first loop to see that I was right on schedule with my hoped-for time and after the second loop was very excited to have finished the entire swim, exactly on time and feeling great. With about 5 minutes left in the swim, someone knocked off my goggles and I couldn't get them to seal properly. I figured to heck with it and just pushed through to the finish. I came out of the water with a big smile on my face and don't think I stopped smiling until about 10 miles into the run.

Absolutely nothing. For me this was the perfect swim.

Good transition. Since I knew the Ironman was going to be a LONG day, I made the decision to prioritize comfort over saving a minute or two in transition. I did a full change from my swimsuit into bike bibs and a tri jersey, put on socks, got myself sunscreened and proceeded through transition in a deliberate and focused fashion, without rushing or panicking.

A couple of days before the race, after a practice swim in Mirror Lake, I sat down for a lecture being given by the Endurance Nation coaches. One of the tips they gave, which really resonated with me, was to bike the split you should bike instead of the split you could ride. In prior races, I've given the bike everything I had, and suffered for it on the run. For this race, since finishing was not a guarantee, I decided I would really hold something back. I kept an eye on my power meter through the entire race, tried to keep the peaks from being too high and the average where I wanted/needed it to be. This plan worked very well and, although I might have been able to cut a few minutes off the bike, I finished the bike exactly where I wanted to and felt refreshed enough to start the run well. The course is challenging but far from impossible. The hills are tough but no one hill is a killer. With proper pacing, gearing and nutrition, this is a great bike course. I loved the downhill into Keene (moreso the second time without rain than the first). I kept myself hydrated with sportsdrink and consumed gels (with water) and powerbars through the entire ride. I love riding my bike and getting the chance to ride this course, during this race, was a real treat.

If I had it to do over again, I probably would put different gearing on my bike. I rode a 12-25 with a compact crankset. If there is a next time, I would probably put the 11-28 on with the compact crankset. It would make life a lot easier on some of the climbs, especially during the second loop.

Again, prioritizing comfort over speed, I changed into running shorts and fresh socks. I'm glad I did as this is one of the few races where I've had hardly any chafing/blister issues.

Bodyglide on my tricep which rubbed against my HRM strap. I'll have to keep that in mind for the next race.

I am not a runner. My longest run prior to IMLP was 18 miles in about 3 hours. My longest race was a standalone half mary in a smidge under 2 hours and the running portion of two half iron distance races. My plan for IMLP was to walk the aid stations, run the first loop of the course at an easy pace (11-12 min miles) and make sure that I could finish without injury or medical issues. I executed this plan and am very happy with the results. The first loop went by well and I felt good throughout. I was pretty tired of sportsdrink and gels (after eating and drinking them exclusively during the bike) so I switched to water and real food for the run. I tried one food item at each station (pretzels, grapes, orange slices, cookies, etc.) and that kept me going straight through the course. On the second loop I tried the chicken broth and switched to flat coke and those gave me a nice end of day pick me up. I ran as much as I could during the second loop and although I was fatigued, I never worried that I was not going to finish. I caught up to a friend on the hill back into town during the second loop and we walked for 20 minutes. We had trained together quite a bit and I appreciated this opportunity. He was very funny and really helped me mentally prepare for the last bunch of miles which I tried my best to run. In all, I'd say I ran about 20 of the 26 miles, kept myself hydrated and focused through the entire run, and had a great experience.

Now that I know I can finish an Ironman, I might try to push a little harder on the run. I had no idea how my body would hold up after 20 or so miles on my feet (especially after an 80 minute swim and 7 hour hilly bike ride).

Crossed the finish line and my handler got me my hat, shirt and picture taken. Made it to the food area, had 2 bites of a ham sandwich (why no bagels?) and a sip of Price Chopper Cola. Sat for a couple of minutes then headed off to find my wife and family to celebrate and rest. Got my bike and bags from transition and walked back to the condo we were staying at (another great reason to stay close to the starting line). Once back at the condo, took a cool (not ice) bath, showered, and got a great night's sleep.


I started with triathlons two years ago. In those two years there has been significant improvement in my performance. I look forward to seeing what can be done after sticking with this for many seasons.


I see what all the hype for Ironman races is about. This was a tremendous experience that I will never forget. The level of energy around this race, from fellow racers, the volunteers and the spectators is amazing. The volunteers really make this race something special with the effort that they put in to treat even the most average age grouper as someone special. The cheering from the spectators really pulls out the highest performance from the racers. I still can't believe that I finished an Ironman and how great an experience it really was.