Ironman USA Lake Placid - TriathlonFull Ironman

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

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

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

Nothing

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

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

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)

(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)

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)

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

Easy full body massage 5 minutes after the finish


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


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!!!