Ironman USA Lake Placid - TriathlonFull Ironman


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Lake Placid, New York
United States
Ironman North America
69F / 21C
Precipitation
Total Time = 15h 31m 47s
Overall Rank = 1968/2345
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 232/268
Pre-race routine:

1) Ironman breakfast 4 hours before start (2 cans Ensure Plus, buckwheat, yogurt, slice of toast with peanut butter)=1200 calories, 2) 1 hour before swim start 1 gel shot and most of a sports bar, 3) 15 minutes before start had 1 bottle of Gatorade Endurance
Event warmup:

1) stretched and tried to reduce pain in my right lower back early that morning, 2) ART chiropractors 30 minutes before start eliminated most of the sharp/deep pain in my back and allowed me to start the race feeling better and gave me a chance to finish it, 2) swam a few strokes 15 minutes before race start
Swim
  • 1h 13m 29s
  • 4224 yards
  • 01m 44s / 100 yards
Comments:

1) about 50 of us hung onto the pier to the inside of the swim buoys right on the start line, 2) an observation kayak was 15-20 feet ahead of us and we asked if he would be moving out of our way before the start of the race and he assured us he would, however, 10 seconds after the start I hit the kayak and many other swimmers did also (I was rather shocked and had to swim around the end of it - other swimmers climbed over the top of it and the kayaker was likely turned upside down), 3) after this shock, my heart rate raced and I got very hot in my full wetsuit and paniced causing me to go further inside the buoys away from all swimmers where I slowly regained my composure and started some breaststroke for 1-2 minutes (and had 200+ swimmers pass me), before I started freestyle again, 4) the rest of the race I felt comfortable swimming freestyle and swam strong
What would you do differently?:

1) bring my shorty wetsuit and wear it since I was SO warm in my full wetsuit (during the swim, about 8 times I pulled the neck of the wetsuit open to let cooler water come in) - the water temperature last year was in the low 60's but this year was 10 degrees warmer
Transition 1
  • 15m 5s
Comments:

All my transitions are VERY slow. There was probably a 1/5 of a mile distance from the swim exit to the transition tent and I walked 100% of it and every other participant I saw ran it. I figure since I am not going to run the run segment of the race, why run the transitions! The transition tent was muddy since hard rain started just after the start of the swim
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Bike
  • 7h 17m 20s
  • 112 miles
  • 15.37 mile/hr
Comments:

I lost tons of time on the bike for 3 reasons: 1) wet conditions and steep downhills with my breaks on, 2) my back was still sensitive, so I probably only went out at 75% of my maximum pace as my goal was to finish the race, and 3) I stopped 4 times to go to the bathroom as I was drinking too much for the cool/wet conditions and since I probably was not sweating much, 3) nutrition: 70 oz of lemon lime Gatorade Endurance I had in my camelback, food I brought: PB&J sandwich, 2 sports bars, lots of Carbo Boom gel, and from the race course: bananas
What would you do differently?:

1) Get a new back for the race!, 2) fire all the weather forecasters, none of whom forecasted continuous rain all day (we had 1.61" that day and it really felt more like 2-3") - weather.com the night before the race had forecasted 20% chance of rain at the start of the race, and then 0% of rain until early afternoon, increasing slowly to a 50% of rain by 9pm
Transition 2
  • 16m 40s
Comments:

No surprise, I had another VERY SLOW transition!! This one should have been much faster but they hung the bike to run transition bag from hooks which caused the bag to be impossible to untie with my fingers which were prune-like from the wet bike course! As such, I got a volunteer to open it who had to tear the bag open, and then get another clear bag to put my (continued below)
What would you do differently?:

(started above) belongings into so they could still read my original number. I would not leave this tent until all my belongings were in the bag (the volunteer had shoes, helmet, etc. spread out and inter-mingled with other participants things and it made me nervous I would loose things)
Run
  • 6h 29m 15s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 14m 52s  min/mile
Comments:

1) My shoes were soaking wet within 20 minutes of the start of the run (who knows why I put blister powder in my shoes during the transition or put on dry socks!), 2) I walked slower than normal (i.e., 14-15 minute miles excluding restrooms breaks, stretching vs. my normal 12-13 minute miles) since I was most worried about this segment of the Ironman with my back, 3) I drank too much as I went to the bathroom about 8-9 times during the run (however, I did not know how to avoid this as I was starting to get hungry so I ate 1 PB&J sandwich, 2 sports bars, lots of pretzels, bananas, gels) and had to down them with lots of liquids, 4) I stopped to stretch out my hamstrings, quads, and soaz muscles 3-4 times (took about 2 minutes each time)
What would you do differently?:

1) eat less solids if possible to allow me to drink less, 2) pick up the pace if my back would allow it!, 3) not take the 2 salt tablets I took and ate less pretzels as the salt moderately swelled up my legs 1-3 days after the race
Post race
Warm down:

Easy full body massage 5 minutes after the finish

What limited your ability to perform faster:

1) back not 100%, 2) rain (on the bike), 3) too many restroom stops!

Event comments:

1) would have been a gorgeous course on a sunny day (much of it along fast flowing streams/rivers) with great trees along the way, 2) great organized race with incredible volunteers who did not bail on their volunteer duties even with the cool wet conditions, 3) I had 4 goals for the race in decending priority order: a) not get hurt, b) finish the race, c) have fun, and d) be happy with my time. Given my back and the wet conditions, I purposely decided to sacrifice the fourth goal for the first two. At points on the run, I was having fun talking to others, but most of the race (it rained 14 hours of the 15.5 hours I was on the course) was unfortunately not fun. Bottomline, given the conditions, I was happy I accomplished my first 2 goals! All the thanks to GOD for that!!!




Last updated: 2008-07-26 12:00 AM
Swimming
01:13:29 | 4224 yards | 01m 44s / 100yards
Age Group: 110/268
Overall: 1138/2345
Performance: Average
Suit: Full
Course: 2 laps of 1.2 miles each
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Shot
Water temp: 71F / 22C Current: Low
200M Perf. Bad Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Below average
T1
Time: 15:05
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Below average
Biking
07:17:20 | 112 miles | 15.37 mile/hr
Age Group: 220/268
Overall: 1775/2345
Performance: Bad
Wind: Little
Course: 1) 2 loops of 56 miles with the first 5 miles being some up and down hills, then 11 miles of almost continuous steep downhills with turns, then rolling hills until the last 12 miles where it is mostly uphill (the uphill portion was not as hard as I anticipated or trained for), 2) roads were very wet due to rain and in some cases muddy (at points the strong rain that felt as hard as hail) on the course, 3) I took the downhills very slowly fully applying my breaks so I was going 15-20 mph while 90% of participants went full speed down the hills at 40+ mph - causing danger passing me as the road on the right side where I was riding (the right side of the roads were VERY rough) on the downhills
Road: Rough Wet Cadence: 82
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Too much
T2
Time: 16:40
Overall: Bad
Riding w/ feet on shoes Bad
Jumping off bike Below average
Running with bike Bad
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Bad
Running
06:29:15 | 26.2 miles | 14m 52s  min/mile
Age Group: 247/268
Overall: 2091/2345
Performance: Below average
Course: 2 laps of 13.1 miles with some steep long hills
Keeping cool Good Drinking Too much
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? No
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 3