Ironman USA Lake Placid - TriathlonFull Ironman

Overall I was very happy with my swim. I didn't learn how to swim freestyle until a couple of years ago and have had an OWS phobia for a quite a while. I've only ever competed in 3 sprint tri's doing the breast stroke about 10 years ago and one Oly this summer. At the start I was standing at the far right back on the beach and from there swam a tangent for the far red turn bouy instead of trying to swim over to the line on the first leg. Doing this may have caused me to swim a few extra meters but I totally stayed out of trouble and never was touched by another swimmer. The return leg of the first lap and the whole second lap I was able to swim on the cable and basically never had to look up. My goal was to finish. The swim went remarkably well. I swam a 50 minute first lap and a 54 second lap. I kept a comfortable pace and concentrated on controlling my breathing.

1. taken swim lessons
2. ate a gel right before swimming and at the turn around

I never did a swim/bike work out and I think being in the water for almost two hours caused a caloric deficit that I could never dig my way out of. It caught up to me on the run

Doing and Ironman is great. My 3 wetsuit stripper did their job with gusto. One almost pushed me over while one caught me and sat me down while the other pulled off my wesuit and then the one that caught me stood me back up again. I had no idea what hit me and next thing I new I was running to the transition tent. Finding my bike was easy since there where not very many left by the time I got there. I was 2,200 out of the water. The volunteer inside the tent was wonderful helping me get by bag emty, organized and helping me on my way.

Actually nothing it went great. I really wasn't in a big hurry but I just kept going.

The bike went well. IMLP was a great test. I was consuming 400 calories and hour so I thought I was going to be OK. On the out and back of the second loop I could tell I was starting to get tired and made the mistake of starting to drink gatorage (which I hadn't trained with) and I started to get an upset stomach. The upset stomach was manable but I didn't/couldn't eat for the rest of the bike ride. The last climb up whiteface was cruel as we had a block headwind to boot.

I'd stick to my nutrition plan. I also would bring a selection of wheelsets. Both decents down to Keene did more damage to my legs than the climbs. The first time down Keene the road was wet (as it had rained hard during the swim) and I was so tense and stressed it was exhausting. I rode extremely deep section aero wheels. The second time down the decent the wind had really picked up and was blowing me around pretty good. This caused extreme stress again. I'm not sure if the aero benefits where worth the extra speed on the flat in that wind. If there where no wind I would ride a disk. Any wind and I would think twice.

Nothing special. The tent volunteer that helped me was great.

This is where things went horribly wrong. I have to admit that I didn't respect the totality of this event and what the accumulation of all three components would cause. The run started out fine. I was going well through 7 miles at 10:00/mile. Then the lights just started to go out. By mile 10 I couldn't do anything but walk. I walked the next 8 miles. I slowly tried to take in nutrition and drank lots of water. The ice, cola and chicken broth were godsends. My wife, daughter and all the spectators were great encouragement. At the athlete's meeting the race director said something that stuck with me, "the only thing you can control is your attitude", so I decided to make the best of a bad situation. I can't tell you how much fun I had giving high fives to the little ones and talking to other racers. Somewhere around mile 16 I started to feel much better and around the mid way point of mile 17, Elizabeth from Canada came by and inspired me to shuffle in with her to break 14 hours. We made our way around the last 8 mile averaging 12:00 miles. Thanks Elizabeth. I owe you. The finish was more than words can express. Hearing my wife and daughter cheering, crossing the finish line, being done.

I had a goal and I didn't adjust to the situation, instead I kept to my "plan" and paid for it. the first half of the run I should have done much more walking and been happy with 12:00-13:00 minute miles the entire race.

I allowed myself to get too dehydrated and nutritionally bonked. Once I was able to let my body recover, I really felt pretty good. I'm writing this two days after and I don't feel that bad. My muscles hurt but not as bad as when I have run marathons. I pretty much followed the BT Beginner Triathlete Plan but I should have done a better job of training. I didn't respect the enormity of the race.


This is a spectacular "must do" race. Lake Placid is beautiful, The organization is wonderful and the volunteers are above and beyond. I do want to take the time to thanks each and every volunteer that made this a "must do" event. My daughter has been mad at me ever since Saturday morning when I didn't sign up for 2010. She had so much fun, she wants to come back. I think we will come back and volunteer as a family and give back to those people that gave so much to me. Thanks