Ironman USA Lake Placid - TriathlonFull Ironman

I started in the front row, in the middle and went out at a brisk pace intentionally on the start. This worked great in Wisoncsin and again here. I got ahead of the madness and I settled into a nice pace. Some people passed me but i'd rather let them deal with passing then me dealing with it. I stayed 50ft right of the buoy line on the way out, then followed the buoy line on the way back. Got out of the water in 31 min and felt good. I was hardly working and the time was decent. Got a little dizziness from going horizontal to vertical back to horizontal so I stopped before restarting to let my equilibrium balance out. Back onto the buoy line and off for the second loop. My shoulders started complaining about 500-750 yds into the second loop so I slowed the pace some. This didn't really change anything but it was obvious that the muscle memory and strength was not there. I ignored it and came out of the water rested and stretched out, excited to get on the bike.

Stop training at one pace, I was horrible about it this year. I find that I have no motivation in the pool and have used swim "training" to stretch out from the bike and run workouts. If we do a 1/2IM relay in the spring next year (w/ me swimming), then I will have motivation to do some real swim training and get my times where they should be, sub 1 hr!

So out of the water and I started looked into the crowd for family and friends. I see none of the big group, but finally see Ab and Dave at the top of the hill. I run into transition and do a full clothes change. I had no volunteer, which is fine, but took my time making sure I had everything. As I hit the mount line I see a girl in red go by with Heidi on her nametag. Holy sh*t, it's Heidi!! I yell hello and she yells back an enthusiastic cheer about how she crushed the swim. I try and catch her but she is gone so I settle into a warmup pace.

So this is where I think my trip to France caught up with me. I had done more bike training this year and was really feeling better about my bike. My 1/2 @ Eagleman in June went great on the bike I averaged just 19.5 on the bike. Granted that course is flat as a board, but it can be pretty windy. I was thinking that lugging my 200 lbs up the hills in Placid was feasible at 16mph average.... wrong!!! The second I started pedaling it felt like 2 lead weights were tied to my feet, no power transfer at all. I even stopped after 5 miles to make sure my brakes weren't rubbing it felt so slow. I pushed on figuering it would get better and worse throughout the day... it is 112 miles. I took the first decent very slow, as I'm not the best bike handler and the hills were wet, coupled with not being on the tri bike since 6/31. The first loop was slow, and I never felt good. I saw Heidi and Kristin on the out and back and they looked good. I also saw a few dozen riders in full pace line. I normally don't care about this kind of stuff since this is a race against your own body and mind, but given how bad I felt it really pissed me off to see people so blatently cheating.
I passed through town on the first loop and saw the friends and family. At this point I was violating goal #2, because I was definitly not having fun or smiling. Loop #2 got a little better as I got some legs from 85-100. The last 12 was very slow but I was in a better mood because I knew it was almost over. I couldn't wait to run.... woooow, that's scarry! Stopped to say hello to Amy and family on the second time through town but I wanted to talk for a few minutes as the bike had been very lonely and a little depressing.

have a better day and try to stay positive, even when the legs aren't there. Sometimes you can't control how your legs feel.

Took my time and used the baby wipes to clean up. It felt good to get some grime off. Did another full clothes change and went in search of sunscreen. Put on some sunscreen spray and off to the run.

Nothing

Started the run feeling great. After about 2 miles my stomach was in liquid washing machine mode. I took a peptol bismol tablet and that seemed to help for about 30 minutes. My legs were the complete opposite on the run compared to the bike, and felt great. I ran probably 10 miles of the first 13, including a nice 1.5 miles with Brad and Ron, and then maybe another 2 miles with Ron. I saw Brad, Heidi, Tim,and Nate all running well. Then I saw Kristin come over the hill and I had a huge smile. I crossed the road a gave her probably a 10 second hug (You owe me those 10 secs K!), and told her there was nothing that could stop her from finishing now and to keep moving. Hit the turnaround and heard that Brad went sub 12... sweet! My walking starting in full gear at the second set of downhills. Those hills were so steep and my shins were on fire when I tried running on them. This sucked some because I definitly still had juice in the tank. The stomach rolling issues would come and go in 30 minutes waves. Once the second ski jump out and back it got really dark, cold, and lonely. I found a few people to walk with and was hoping Nate would catch me from behind and we could run the last 6 or so together. Well we crossed and he was still 40 min back, and I realized that he wouldn't catch me unless I stopped. I started back into run/walk mode, but the legs wern't happy that I had walked for too long, and didn't want to go back to running. The stomach was at its worst w/ 4 miles to go. The skies opened and it poured, and I was freezing. I started running to warm up, screw the stomach! This promted dry heaving for 3 miles, but it was either finish and get warm clothes and solid food, or keeping walking and freeze for an extra 20-40 minutes. Amy ran/walked about 2 miles with me and I hit the shoot. It all feels better when you hit the finish. I took a quick look over my shoulder to make sure no one was behind me and started my trot down to the finish. I was suprised so many people were still out the giving the rain but the stands were almost full. Crossed the line, happy and glad to be done. The finish makes these things all worth it.

Don't stop running.... one of these days I will accomplish this goal!

Pizza and warm clothes, both were heavenly after the long day!


Well 2 IM's down, and 5 more North American races to go. Next up IM Cour d'lene!!!!