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Ironman Lake Placid
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Ironman Lake Placid - Triathlon
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 Swim
Comments: I was late getting into the line so I didn't line up with the group I wanted but it worked out ok. 5 athletes went off every 5 seconds. I came up to the line and the buzzer sounded and we bounded into the water and started swimming. I wanted to stay 10-15 feet to the left of the cable under the water so I didn't have too many people swimming over me but I drifted over there a lot and got swam over a lot. Tons of pushing to create space and some hard kicks to move people away. I get punched every time I've done this race. Got to the turn buoy and it was even worse. The scrum ended 10 feet past it and we swam to the next turn buoy and had another water fight before I turned and headed for the shore. It seemed to take forever to just get through one lap. I was counting down strokes, trying to think of other things but the time moved so very slowly. I think I had about 20 or 30 conversations with myself about various things. Eventually, I told myself to 'shut up'. Got close to the end of loop one and started kicking hard to get the blood flowing to the legs like they told us to. This definitely helped out, then I walked across the timing mat and back into the water to do it again. My loops were perfectly even split. I had told my wife I expected ~1:25 depending on everything and I was 42/43=1:25. https://www.strava.com/activities/9509747101 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/11628696899/1 What would you do differently?: Should have forced my way closer to the front of the swim line to get to 1:15-1:20. I believe with the current, better swimmers and some drafting, I could have been 5-8 minutes faster but it really wasn't a race, just an event for me.  Transition 1
Comments: Got out and went over and got 'stripped' by the girl/boy tandem team. Found my cut shoes and ran past a lot of people just walking up to transition. (Later found out that a guy tried to take my shoes and my wife got them back after a bit of a confrontation-I have his photo on my phone still which she took-He better hope I don't run into him at a future event!) Ran up and grabbed the bike bag and with my number being 901, I was right at the end of the monster pile and it was super easy. Dumped the bike stuff out and dried my feet with towel, put on socks, put on bike shoes, then helmet and clipped it, then put the wetsuit and swim stuff into the bike bag. Jogged out the rear of the tent and to my bike and again I knew my landmarks well. Got my bike-dropped the bag and I ran past everyone at the mount line, and again jumped on, turned quickly180 degrees twice, then clipped in. Turn left and start going fast down and out of transition!!! Let's go. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/11628696899/2 https://www.strava.com/activities/9509747086 most of t1 on strava What would you do differently?: really nothing-that was my best transition and really the high point of my day--how sad.  Bike
Comments: After the swim, I really didn't feel like pushing hard and then when I had issues with the rear tire rubbing and making noise, I was seriously concerned I'd get a blowout on the Keene descent. Fortunately, the crash happened on mile 30 or so and then the flat on mile 36-both way after the fast downhill. Never good to have a ~15:00 mile on the bike *(or the run really). Didn't have the end cap to shoot the c02 cartridge as it fell off in the crash so I asked riders for several minutes if they had one but didn't get any responses for a while. My rear bottle holders were also really loose but they stayed on. Finally got a Cyclonaut to stop and he gave me the top and I needed I put some air in the tire-but it actually measured 40 psi when I finished the race, so not really ideal. I was rushing and did a very poor job of tire changing. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/11628696899/3 part one-cut short when I accidently hit the button. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/11637919161 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/11628704534 https://www.strava.com/activities/9509754268 https://www.strava.com/activities/9509747169 https://wawa-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/catfish-IMG_9009.jp... found a pic of something very similar to the road that was washed out and I went into What would you do differently?: not crash, not flat I really should have inspected my bike much better and secured everything ahead of time. I was a bit lazy about doing that. I was also terrible at fixing the flat quickly and efficiently. Transition 2
Comments: As soon as you dismount, someone takes your bike-the 'bike catcher'. And then it's off to grab the run bag and get the run shoes/belt/visor/sunglasses. Drank a Boost again as I was pretty tired and a bit hungry. Once again, I knew hydration was going well as I felt I had to go pee. What would you do differently?: I could have gone faster but I was mostly defeated after the bike issues.  Run
Comments: Super tough again with the steady increase in the temps. Plus there was a thunderstorm, 15 minutes of torrential rain, then bright sun and hot/humid rest of the day. This had to mess with people's hydration plan-it certainly did screw me up. My wife was always there cheering me on-I think I'd have quit if she wasn't there. Great to hear Bobby out on the course too but I felt badly as I complained to him a lot more... https://www.strava.com/activities/9509754300 partial upload of run on strava What would you do differently?: Stick to the plan. Drink the set amounts and eat the needed calories. My gut revolted a bit because I drank too much of the concentrated sugar/bicarb water and needed more regular water when I was on the bike. I drank water and coke at every aid station and walked every one of them during the second loop. I was in survival mode at that point. Post race
Warm down: Felt like my breathing remained fast/rapid for hours. Walked over and collected the bike and all the bags. DW took the lion's share and I was leaning on the bike aiming it towards the hotel. Ate/iced/drank and bitched for a few hours more. My poor wife probably put on close to 20 miles of walking and being the uber-sherpa. I was not a happy camper that night and the ice on my back was heavenly. I did feel like I had so many people with me cheering me along but all their voices were drowned out by my loudly complaining inner self. What limited your ability to perform faster: Old age, wickedly undertrained for the long distances and still messed up the fourth discipline (nutrition/hydration). My massage is scheduled for Saturday thanks to my son Mike. It's been two days and I'm back to work but still can't walk well. Never again. Not a full IM-nope, not ever. Event comments: Bring your A game-this venue is challenging with a hilly bike and run. It is beautiful and I've stayed at some great hotels for this race. Lots of support along the course and it truly is an iconic race. Last updated: 2022-11-05 12:00 AM
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 2023-07-27 2:08 PM |
Veteran  945    South Windsor, CT |  Subject: Ironman Lake Placid |
| 2023-07-27 2:32 PM in reply to: #5286284 |
Champion 10018 , Minnesota Bronze member | Subject: RE: Ironman Lake Placid Great job! Your wife sounds pretty awesome. |
| 2023-07-27 3:29 PM in reply to: BikerGrrrl |
Expert 4632 Middle River, Maryland Silver member | Subject: RE: Ironman Lake Placid Not bad for an old guy, Dale. And eff that dude who tried to steal your shoes. The level of douchebaggery in triathlon never ceases to astound me, especially in Ironman events. Your wife (a.k.a. security team) rocks!! Enjoy your IM retirement and I'm sure you'll go back to destroying people at shorter distances soon enough. |
You do such a nice job of managing the situation (probably your career has a lot to do with that) and adjusting your expectations along the way. Sometimes stuff happens and sometimes it happens non-stop.| 2023-07-28 8:49 AM in reply to: #5286284 |
Master 2485 Atlanta, Georgia | Subject: RE: Ironman Lake Placid Way to go, Ironman! 140.6 in July..say no more, it had to be epic. I had a version of the shoe/T2 bag incident at an IM a few years back. Made for precisely the kind of additional stress you don't want on race morning. What's this about a wreck on the bike? Congrats again..deciding to show up at the start line deserves a ton of respect |
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
72F / 22C
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Overall Rank = 758/1644
Age Group = M60-64
Age Group Rank = 14/47
Drove up Thursday afternoon-took 4.5 hours. I like being able to check in and wanted to get there for registration too-so the plan was to get there for ~3pmish. I was super happy to be at the Hampton Inn for the first time- right across from the swim start. The Crowne Plaza is where we've stayed most often but it is on a hill though, and walking up and down that hill can be quite taxing after a while. But no parking issues and you could get anywhere you needed. Again, it was super quiet at night, with very comfortable beds. No restaurant at the Hampton but the Crowne was super close, and we could drive a very short distance anywhere. The food is exceptionally good at the Crowne Plaza. And of course, perfect location, location, location! I could walk to Mirror Lake for a practice swim or walk to registration/transition/expo at the oval which was about 1/2 mile away. The expo was basically held at the Olympic Oval with the Convention Center/Lake Placid High School directly behind it.
Got my registration done-Number 901. Back to the hotel. Planned for a practice swim, worked on the bike and got set up with putting numbers on the helmet/bike etc. Did a short bike ride and saw new pavement for the Keene descent. Lots of rubbing on my rear tire which I could not quite figure out. Checked bike in and checked my bags-run/bike. Pre-race, got a light pasta dish and to bed super early with lots of alarms which never needed to go off. Mixed my nutrition bottles and put them in the fridge.
Woke up early, as usual, this time at 4 am (and shut off all alarms before they went off) and ate ~500 calories of nutrition. (boost/banana/rk treat/coffee). Shower/BR. Lots of body glide-Dress race ready. Wore my new Synergy kit. Brought chilled mixed bottles to transition and put cut shoes at swim exit. My lovely wife is so instrumental at helping me with all the preparation. She ran my list of things I'd need, and I had forgotten, so many things, again. There is always something I forgot but the list was pretty extensive this time...oops. Weather was 49 degrees and chilly in the morning but warmed up to 75 degrees by the end of the day.
DW walked my bike and run special needs bags to the areas, which was about a half a mile away in different directions. On to the swim warmup...sipping G2 to maintain hydration status. Went smooth, but only because I hadn't forgotten a zillion things thanks to DW.
Did a short swim warmup in the 'swim area' to the right of the planned start. People were swimming every direction-it was chaos. The swim practice was from 6:00 to 6:20, then off to get in line for the start. Rolling/self-seed start but I could not get up close enough to my planned time, so I stayed with the 1:20-1:40 range group, which ironically is what I swam.