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 Swim
Comments: About 15 minutes before the start, I got into the water, swam to the far side of the start, stood in waist deep water, and started chatting with a guy. Come to find out the guy was also from Connecticut and had grown up in the town I currently live. Small World. Looking around at the start, there were a bunch of people crowded up near the start line ( I was about 50 yards back), a bunch near the buoy line, and a whole bunch of people on the shore to my right), with not many people in the middle area. So about 15 seconds before the started I floated up into the vacant area, and at the sound of the cannon, I just put my head down and started swimming. After hearing and reading about all the horror stories of an IM mass start, my plan was to stay well off the buoy line to avoid as much of the mosh pit as possible, and if I had to swim a little extra, so be it. In the overall scheme of things, an extra couple of minutes weren’t going to make or break me. The first 400 yards or so was pretty crowded, especially with all the people that had started out on the shore to my right making a bee line for the buoy line and swimming across my path, but after that, things cleared out relatively nicely. I was pretty surprised at how little contact there actually was. I didn’t get hit, pulled, swam over or generally beat up at all. Before I knew it, I was at the turn buoy and headed back to the start for loop 2. The only issue I had on the first loop was staying on a good course. I’m not a straight swimmer as it is, and with the buoy line was on my left, and being a right-sided breather, I knew it might be a challenge to stay on course. However, I had found in the couple of swims along the course in the days before the race that if I kept the rising sun at about one to two o’clock on the way out, they kept the rays of the sun as they filtered through the water at about nine o’clock on the way back, I could keep a pretty good line. During the second practice swim, I was able to swim 40 to 50 strokes without having to sight using this technique. Of course, on race day, the sky was slate gray, with no sun in sight so I found myself off-course a few times. I got out of the water on my first loop and looked at the race clock and saw 50 minutes, and thought no way did I swim that slow then I looked at my watch which showed 40 minutes, then I realized the race clock showed the time from when the pros took off. Just as I was starting the second loop the skies opened up, and I mean opened up. I could feel the rain on my head as I was swimming so I know it was coming hard and it really wasn’t letting up (more ominous music). The out of the second loop was spent thinking about what I would do on the bike if it kept raining since I hadn’t packed anything for rain and was just planning on wearing bike shorts and a sleeveless tri-top. All that worrying got me to the turn buoy pretty quickly, and the return to shore was pretty much spent thinking about the same things. As I got out of the water, I did hear Mike Reilly announce my name and hometown, which I thought, was pretty cool. I got the top part of my wetsuit off, and then flopped down on the ground and a stripper yanked it off with one good pull. Little did I realize, the time I spent in the water with the wetsuit would be the driest I was all day. What would you do differently?: Not much really other learning to swim a bit straighter. The plan to stay wide worked great, hardly any contact at all. I did get one tug on my ankle on the return trip to loop 2, but whoever grabbed it, let go pretty quickly, which I sort of got a chuckle out of.  Transition 1
Comments: It was a long run to transition, probably around a ¼ mile, but they had put carpeting on the road so it was an easy jog. Grabbed my swim to bike bag, and entered the changing tent. Wow was it crowded, dark and steamy in there, and the ground had pretty much started turning to muck. I went diligently through my business, swimsuit off, chamois cream on, bike shorts on, tri-top on, bike shoes on (no socks), helmet on, and then came the first decision of the day. Sunglasses or no sunglasses? It didn’t appear there would be much sun, but I thought the sunglasses would help keep the rain out of my eyes, so I decided to go with sunglasses. Packed up my wetsuit and bathing suit into my bag, stuffed some salt tabs in my pocket and was out of the tent. As I was running out of the tent I needed to use the bathroom, but they were all occupied, and someone suggested just using the area in between the porto-potties, which I did. I did hear someone mention as he was running by the bathrooms something to the affect “wow, lots of naked ladiesâ€. The exit of the woman’s changing tent was wide open, so the guy must have snuck a peek (not that I noticed as I ran by). After finishing my business, I grabbed my bike and on the way out saw Mark (Stone) who was volunteering in transition, and he wished me good luck. What would you do differently?: Again not much, I know it looks liek I took a nap, but I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed. I also spent some time cleaning all the mud off my feet to make sure I wasn’t going to have any problems with dirt in my shoes.  Bike
Comments: Ah the bike, where to begin. It rained, and rained, and rained, and rained some more and just when you thought it was letting up, it started raining even harder. My nutrition plan was to take a hit off a concentrated bottle of Infinit every 10 minutes and keep water in my aero-bottle and try to go through the aero-bottle every hour. Even though it was pretty cool, I knew I would need to stay hydrated and force myself to drink. Every 30 minutes I was planning on taking a salt tab to ward off cramps (not that I thought it might be a problem on a day like this, but I wanted to cover all the bases). The hills leading up to the Keene descent were mostly spent in the smallest gear of my 12-27 (thank god I made that change, one of the best decisions I ever made). There was a lot of chatter in the pack of riders, and the hills went by quickly and easily. Didn’t really notice the rain and coolness to much, but as soon as I hit the Keene descent, I noticed it. By the time I got down to the bottom of the six mile downhill, my teeth were chattering and I had the shakes a bit. I rode my brakes pretty much all the way down. I’m not a great descender as it is, and with the wet roads, I was even more cautious. As I made the turn to Jay, I was hoping the some time pedaling on this mostly flat section, would warm me up, but since it’s pretty flat, I spent a good amount of time going fairly fast so I never really warmed up. Most of this section I spent worrying about how I was going to stay warm on the second loop, and was actually getting concerned that I would become hypothermic. Who would have ever thought that would be a possibility in the middle of July. Thankfully, I made the turn onto Route 86 to head towards Wilmington, which meant some hills. I was never so glad to see some hills and spun up them easily, and actually started warming up a bit. The Haselton Road out and back was uneventful except for the monsoon downpours. I also started needing a bathroom about this time, but really didn’t want to stop, so I let it fly while I was on the bike. This was a first time ever for me, but I figured with the way it was raining, it really wasn’t going to make much of a difference. Besides it was mostly water any ways. This decision probably saved me 5-10 minutes through-out the course of the ride. Finally finished the out and back and made the turn to head back to Lake Placid. I saw my parents, who were staying at the campground right in Wilmington. When I stopped to see them, I had them call ahead to my wife to see if she could get a plastic garbage bag that I could put on to wear for the second loop. The rest of the trip back to Lake Placid was spent on more hills, which warmed me up, and also hoping (and praying that my wife could get a garbage bag). Went up the five climbs just before Lake Placid (Little Cherry, Big Cherry, Mama Bear, Baby Bear, and finally Papa Bear). The crown on Papa Bear was great considering the weather, and all the screaming and encouragement really helped. Made the turn onto Northwoods Road, and then onto Mirror Lake Drive and towards special needs. The last part of the trip I was worried that if my wife gave me a trash bag that it would be considered outside help, and that if a marshal saw me, I could be disqualified. Fortunately, my iron sherpa had the fore-thought to have it put into my special needs bag. I saw my family just before special needs where my wife relayed to me that the bag was in special needs, got a kiss from everyone of them a “you rock dad†from my kids and was off. Got to special needs grabbed my trash bag, stuffed it inside my shirt and took off. Just as I headed through town the skies really opened up hard, and I was amazed to see the number of spectators giving encouragement. Next decision was wear to stop to get the trash bag on. I was worried that if I stopped and took my helmet off I could be penalized, so I figured the best place to stop would be behind the high school just as I was starting my second lap. Once I got the bag on, I was ready to take on the second loop. The second went pretty much as the first for the first 20 miles or so, the hills leading to the Keene descent seemed a bit steeper this time, and the Keene descent was spent on the brakes, but by the time I got to the bottom I had stayed pretty warm. The road to Jay was good other than the rain was really starting to wear on me, and I started thinking about another two to three more hours in the rain then another five hours running through the rain. By the time I got to Jay and started heading to Wilmington, the thoughts were really occupying my mind, and on the Haselton Road out and back, I had pretty much decided that if the rain didn’t stop by the time I got back to Lake Placid, I was going to bag it in T2. I was really flip-flopping between “I don’t want to be out here any more, this rain really sucks, and I have had it†and “crap I spent all this money and here I was going to quit. What would my parents think, what would my wife think, what would my kids thinkâ€. The negative thoughts were really starting to take over. I saw my parents again at the campground in Wilmington, but I didn’t mention anything to them. Then a funny thing happened, that little phrase my son whispered in my ear this morning popped into my head and got me fired up. At that point, I decided to HTFU, suck it up and ride. I took a gel that I had on my bike and it was like a jolt of energy. I was determined to get through this come hell or high water ïŠ. With that change in attitude I felt a lot better, started chatting up a few of the riders I was playing leap frog with, and was determined to not let the rain get the best of me. I made it past the last five hills to Lake Placid, and went down Mirror Lake Drive and stopped and saw my wife and kids again. More kisses and hugs and “rock on dad†and I was off to finish off the bike. Looking at my bike splits, I finished the first loop in almost exactly what I was shooting for, but the second loop was quite a bit slower. I don’t really have an explanation as to why, because, physically, I felt really good, and I felt like I was moving along at about the same speed. The weather seemed a lot worse on the second loop, and I wonder if wearing the trash bag created a “parachute effect†and slowed me down. In the overall scheme of things though, the trash bag probably saved the race for me, so it was worth whatever extra time it cost me. What would you do differently?: Good decisions: putting the 12-27 cassette on a couple of weeks ago, wearing sunglasses, foregoing socks (the water ran right out of my shoes). Calling ahead to get a plastic bag, using my bike as a bathroom Bad decisions: Being wholly unprepared for the weather. There was really no excuse for this. I have a rain vest and arm warmers, but failed to pack them for the trip. Didn’t think I would need them, long range weather forecast was for decent weather, so just screwed up. I made a cardinal mistake in not preparing for the unexpected and it almost cost me the race. Let negative thoughts creep in. I was reading an article in a magazine we had gotten in our race packet by Mark Allen on race day tips, and one of his tips was to keep a quiet mind. I failed to do this. Transition 2
Comments: Got to the bike dismount, thanked my bike for cooperating for 112 difficult miles and handed it off. A volunteer already had my T2 bag as I was running to the racks and I ran into the tent. You would think with all this help, I would have been out quickly, but evidently not. Again took my time, opened up my clothes bag, and everything was bone dry, so at least I had dry socks and shorts to put on. I ditched the sunglasses, made sure my feet were cleaned of mud before putting my socks on (the tent had gotten worse with mud since T1), packed some band-aids and a safety pin, in case I got blisters, some bio-freeze in case I started getting sore, and then I was off. What would you do differently?: Borrow a volunteer's legs for the run!!! :)  Run
Comments: Out the Ironman arch, which I mentally told myself I’d see again, down the hill through town, and my nice dry socks and shoes were soaked by Mile 0.5. So much for good intentions. The goal was to run aid station to aid station, taking whatever I felt like I needed, with salt tabs every 2 miles. Wait, crap, salt tabs, where are they, started checking my pockets, damn it, left them in my T2 bag. Crap now what. Ok I have some in run special needs, just need to get to mile 12. The first eight miles went by relatively well. I was able to hold just under 10 minute pace, even with walking though the aid stations, taking in Gatorade and water, and started on broth at about mile 4. I was able to see the signs my kids made as I was running along River Road and went through the inspiration station, where my kids had left me a message “Go Daddy, you rock” and got back to the ski jumps and the first big hill. I made a conscious decision to walk the big hills in the hopes of saving something for the later parts of the run. Got to the top of the hill, and I wasn’t feeling so great anymore, but I was able to continue with a 5 min. run with a 1 min. walk. Got back to Lake Placid, walked the big hill leading into Town, made the turn onto Mirror Lake Drive for the out and back and saw my wife and kids again. Lots more hugs and kisses and encouragement, and a forewarning to my wife that the second loop might be a little longer than the 2:30 that I just did. Second loop began with the downhill out of Lake Placid. At the base of the downhill, my right kneed really started getting sore. The soreness felt like it was coming from right behind the knee, and was something I had never experienced before. I really started thinking it was going to be along last 12 miles. I walked a bit to see if things would get any better, which it did bit so I started running when I could and walked when I had to. When I got to the downhill at the ski jumps, I walked down the downhill, just to make sure I wouldn’t do any further damage. By now, I was really starting to feel the affects of the long day and really wasn’t feeling very good. Just a total lack of energy more than anything else, but no negative thoughts about not finishing. I had guessed I had pretty much hit the wall, and I just needed to do what I could to get to the finish. I walked the entire first mile along River Road, hoping the feeling would pass and started taking in more warm chicken broth to try to keep me warm. I also picked up a mylar blanket at around mile 18 to help keep me warm and put some of the biofreeze on my knees, which really seemed to help. Up to this point the rain had pretty much continued, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, then it stopped completely for a while. After I started feeling better, I went to a run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute just to keep moving forward. I fashioned my mylar blanket into somewhat of a cape, and started getting comments from the aid station volunteers that I looked like Superman. I finally hit the turn around on River Road, and started making the last trek back to Town. I slowly dropped the 3:1 to 2:1 then finally 1:1, but I kept moving forward. On the return from the turn around, we got one last blast of a heavy downpour, then the rain finally quit for the night (at least until I finished). By the time I got to the ski jumps, the sun was starting to set and it was getting dark. It looked like my goal of finishing before it got dark was setting with the sun. I walked up the hill by the ski jumps, then resumed the 1 minute walk and 1 minute run all the way into town. I was able to run down the hill into the village, saw my parents one last time, which surprised me, and told them I would be in the finish in about 30 min. I walked up the hill leading to Mirror Lake Drive, talking with a nice gentleman, and we both agreed that Ironman is hard, but with all the extra obstacles thrown at us today, crossing the finish line was really going to be sweet and something to remember for a long time. I got on Mirror Lake Drive for the last out and back (how very cruel to hear the finish line and Mike Reilly, knowing you still had a couple of miles to go). It seemed like it took forever to get to the turn around, then finally passed through the last aid station (telling them if I saw gatorade in the next year it would be to soon), and hit the downhill to the finish. I crossed under the Ironman Arch, got onto the Olympic speed skating oval, looked behind me and front of me, and saw the way was clear, and came around the last corner feeling like a rock start and heard Mike Reilly say the words I had only dreamed of, “Chris Faulkner, from Colchester, Connecticut, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”. The feeling crossing that line was indescribable. I was happy beyond belief, proud that I had stuck it out on a tough day, and relieved that it was finally over. The catcher grabbed me and walked me through the finish line, helping me collect my finishers swag and pointed me in the direction for my finisher’s photo. In all reality, I felt pretty good, other than being tired. My only regret was not being able to finish with my kids. When I asked them in the days before the race if they wanted to finish with me, they both said they wanted to. But there was no way I could pick one over the other, so I made the decision to finish solo. I met up with my wife and kids beyond the finish line, and there must have been some dust in the air, because my eyes got a little sweaty. I couldn’t believe after all these years, from seeing Julie Moss until now, I had lived a dream, then my son says to me “see Dad I told you it was your day”. It was all I could do to not bawl right there. I got a few more pictures with my parents and my wife, and told everyone I would meet them back at the room after collecting my gear. I browsed through the food area, but nothing really looked appealing, and food just didn’t sound good. I did grab a couple of cookies, but even getting those down was a chore. I picked up my bags, a volunteer collected my bike for me (the transition area was a quagmire at this point, with mud about 2-3” deep), and made my way up the hill to the room. What would you do differently?: Not really sure. The run was a long slog after the first nine miles or so. I don’t think not having my salt pills affected me. I never really cramped up, and I did pick them up at special needs, but only took a few over the last half of the run. The only thing I can relate it to, is having 20 mile marathon legs at mile 10 of this run. I was proud I stayed positive during the entire run, and never once thought about quitting. I also met a lot of nice people, especially on the last half of the run. Maybe a better nutrition plan would have helped, but on all my long runs I survived basically on gatorade and salt tabs for the entire run, which is what I stayed with during this run, outside of the chicken broth. Post race
Warm down: I got back to the room and took a nice long hot shower, while my awesome iron sherpa made the trek out to special needs to collect my bike and run bags. By the time she got back we sat and talked about the day, and I told her how close I had come to calling it quits. She was really surprised, since every time she saw me, I looked so good, and was so positive. She asked me when I was going to do my next one, and I told her this was it for me. She said that was to bad, because she and the kids had so much fun watching. But I said no, this was it for me, I just want to stick to the shorter distances. What limited your ability to perform faster: Nothing I can really complain about, sure the weather sucked, but it made it all the sweeter to finish. I knew going in, this was going to be a one and done so I just wanted to enjoy as much as I could and try to remember as much as I could. Event comments: I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my wife and kids, without whose support and belief in my abilities, none of this would have been possible. On a day, that was the ultimate in miserable, they were always there for me when I came through town. I saw the pile of wet clothes on the floor when I got back to the room. They, like me, were unprepared for the weather. No rain gear, no umbrellas. They did manage to score some garbage bags from the cleaning staff, in an attempt to stay dry, but what they went through, that’s true support and they are Iron Spectators. Also a big thanks to all the volunteers. Again to stand out there in that weather for hours on end is unbelievable. I didn’t see any “woe is me”, they were always supportive. And finally to all the spectators, I saw people all over the course all day long, and to sit through that weather was truly inspiring to me. Last updated: 2008-05-07 12:00 AM
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United States
Ironman North America
71F / 22C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 1767/2340
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 325/396
WARNING!!! This is going to be very long. Reader's Digest version: I had a great time, met a lot of cool people, but it's one and done for me.
For me, it all began in 1982 with Julie Moss. Watching her trying to get to the finish line of this race called ironman hooked me. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to do that to themselves but I was fascinated watching it, and so the seed was planted. Fast forward about 13 years to 1995 when my identical twin brother tells me about recently completing the Marine Corp Marathon. I thought to myself, “I have the same genes as him, I can do thatâ€. Mind you that I had always been athletic through high school and college (hockey, lacrosse, soccer, football, baseball, etc), but never really ran for any distances. So I bought a couple of books, and 9 months later completed by first marathon in 4:27 all the while swearing over the last few miles that this was the stupidest idea I had ever had and I was never going to do this again. Fast forward again eight more years (and nine marathons later) to 2004; I finally broke 4 hours (oh so close three times 4:01, 4:02, 4:02). This was important because I promised by wife that I would be done with this marathon thing once I broke 4 hours.
A few months later, as we were sitting around the dinner table, I mentioned to my wife I was thinking of trying a triathlon. Mind her, her only exposure to triathlon was watching the coverage of Kona every year. Once I explained to her that there were different distances and there would be NO WAY I would try an ironman since I knew how painful it was to run a marathon, and that I couldn’t imagine running a marathon after riding a bike for 112 miles, she just sort of rolled her eyes (I think she knew all along) and gave her blessing.
Fast forward again to July of 2007, after having completed two half-ironmans (again telling my wife after completing them that I couldn’t imagine doing twice that distance) and numerous sprints and olys, I was starting to get these crazy notions that I could complete an ironman. Sitting around the dinner table a couple of weeks before IMLP 2007 I decided to bring up the topic with my wife. The first words out of her mouth “I KNEW IT!!!â€. After some discussion, and much reassurance that this would be a one and done, she again gave her blessing.
I still remember the day I actually registered for the race, hitting that enter button to submit my registration was both the most terrifying and exciting moment of my life outside of the birth of my two kids and my wedding day (neither of which was terrifying, just exciting).
Training officially began on January 21, 2008. I had picked a 6 month plan from “Training Plans for Multisport Athletes†because it seemed very doable and it was somewhat heavy on swim volume compared to the other plans I looked at and the long bike rides maxed out at a couple of hours the first couple of months of the plan when I was going to have to be using the trainer. Some things I’ll remember from the past six months:
1. I probably did 98% of the workouts, and although some weeks were tougher than others, I think the key was just focusing on the next workout and not worrying what was coming up the next day, the next week, the next month. It can get to overwhelming if you do.
2. I thought I did a great job managing my time. The one promise I made to my wife when I started was that I was going to minimize as much as possible the impact that this was going to have to our family. All my weekday training was done before work which usually meant I was up by 4:30, swimming was done during lunch hour (fortunately the pool is 5 min. from the office) and I would always leave one day free on the weekends which meant my long runs had to be done before work.
3. For the most part, I really enjoyed the training, it was quite an experience and I really pushed myself both physically and mentally further than I ever have. I did all but a few workouts alone, and I found I really enjoyed the time to myself. It was a great time to sort through things going on in my life, working through problems at work, and having some weird conversations with yourself.
4. I learned to really enjoy swimming. Swimming was always my limiter, and it probably still is and it was the one sport I was most concerned about when I looked at the training. The longest continuous swims I had done up until 6 months ago was 1.2 miles and I couldn’t imagine swimming twice that distance. Now I can regularly swim 3000+ yards with absolutely minimal effort and the 2.4 miles is easily doable.
5. When things get tough in LP and I need some self-motivation I’ll remember all the mornings I got up before the butt-crack of dawn, all the time I spent on the trainer watching Coach Troy’s butt while watching the LP training DVD, the unending blue line at the bottom of the pool, but mostly I’ll think about my family and the sacrifices they made for me to help me realize my dream.
6. Lastly, but most importantly, all the support from my family, my training partners (Trigirl069 and Hudnick, you guys are the best) and my co-workers (thanks for pushing me out the door every lunch to make me swim, and the extra-long lunch hours to fit those 1 hour swims in)
Race Week:
We got into Lake Placid on Tuesday and we stayed at the Adirondack Inn. The place was fantastic. Even though they require a seven night minimum, the location couldn’t have been better. It’s literally a ½ block from the Olympic Oval, out the back of the Inn is the swim start and the bike leg goes right by the Inn. The room we had came with a microwave and a small refrigerator so we were able to save some money on food and keep drinks cold. They served a continental breakfast every morning (cereal, coffee, juice, fruit, danish), which also kept down the cost of food.
The day before the race, I brought my bike down to transition and covered it with plastic since the forecast was calling for showers that evening and night and I wanted to try to keep it relatively dry. I also double-bagged my bike shorts and tri-top and my running shoes, socks, and shorts to make sure they stayed dry in case it rained. Almost every day since we had been here we had gotten some rain, but it usually last 10-20 min, with a pretty good tropical downpour, but the sun would come right out after (cue ominous music).
The night before the race, I had a great dinner with my wife, kids, and parents at a nice Italian restaurant to top off the carbo stores. Went back to the room and my son and I got his DVD player out and we watched our favorite movie, Miracle (we were after all in Lake Placid where it all happened) to get me pumped up for tomorrow and finally fell asleep around 9:30. I slept relatively good and woke up about 30 min. before my 4:15 alarm (thank god for all those early morning training sessions, because I was pretty wide awake by that time). I went down to breakfast, which the Inn was kind enough to open up at 4:00 for all the racers. I put the Weather Channel on and they were calling for overcast skies, temps in the low 70’s and a 40% chance of afternoon thundershowers. So if the rain came, it was likely going to hit during the run which wouldn’t be bad, overall a pretty favorable forecast (cue more ominous music). Breakfast consisted of a couple of bowls of Wheaties (the breakfast of champions), an english muffin with peanut butter, and a cup of cofffee. Surprisingly, it all went down pretty easily, since my stomach usually is doing flip-flops race morning, but this morning it was pretty calm.
After breakfast, I started down to transition around 5:00, dropped off my special needs bags, got body marked, went into transition and packed a few more things into my transition bags, took the plastic off the bike (never rained overnight) and got the tires pumped up. After I was set to go, I headed back to the room to see my wife and kids one last time, then headed down to the swim start. Gave everyone a hug and a kiss good bye, lots of well wishes and as I was headed out the door my son called me over and said in my ear “Dad, This is your timeâ€. He got this from the movie we watched last night, and it’s what the coach told the USA hockey team just as they were about to go out and play the Russians. As I was walking down to the water, I thought about that a lot, and he was right, this was going to be my time.
I got down there about 30 minutes before the start, got into my wetsuit and just sat on the beach taking in the spectacle. I saw a few of the pros (Ficker, Loeffler, Bonney, who at the athlete’s press conference had predicted a 46 minute swim – crazy fast), which I thought was pretty cool. I also saw Paula Newby-Fraser who was doing some TV for Ironman. I put my wetsuit on because I was starting to get a bit chilled, and just as I was getting ready to get into the water there were a few more drops of rain (cue more ominous music), but it stopped almost as quickly as it started.
This is Ironman, you don't need any frickin warm-up