In 2007 I did my first Ironman in beautiful Panama City Beach Florida. Although it was difficult, it was a pretty successful first attempt. I crossed the finish line in 9:44:18.
Fast forward to last summer. I had not trained very seriously as a triathlete for the past 2 years, but was keeping fit by running a few marathons and doing some bike racing. Word started to spread that a group of Brooklyn tri club racers were going to be attempting Lake Placid, as well as former Cal teammates Curtis and Christi. I got sucked into the hype and signed up.
In the few weeks before the event, I began to put together a general race plan. I knew that my biking was strong and I had nothing to worry about there. I hadn’t done much swimming, but in the past month things really started to come together and I was swimming some great workouts, so I had confidence there. My running was another story. I struggled on a lot of my long runs and didn’t get in the volume I would have liked. I found getting in a long bike and a long run each week during the school year pretty difficult. I did lots of runs in the 12-15 mile range, but only one near 20 and it was a real struggle. But, during the few tune up races I did with shorter run legs (10k, ½ marathon) I ran some solid times. So I decided on a plan: go for it. If things go really well, I’ve got a sub 10-hour performance at Lake Placid (which, considering the course, is pretty awesome). If things don’t go so well… I only have to limp through so many miles until it is over.
Swim (2.4 miles): I lined up hanging on to the dock for the 3,000 person mass start. I got out easy and found some feet to draft on within 400 meters or so. The swim felt easy and calm. Maybe I was going too slow I thought. It was around this point my sunscreen began seeping into my eyes. The pain was really awful. What a way to start the race. I began closing my eyes in my goggles to try to squeeze out tears and stop the pain. I opened them every 5 strokes to make sure I was still behind the person in front of me. I repeated this process the entire swim. At the half way point on the swim you come out of the water and re-enter for a 2nd loop. I saw the clock say 27:xx – nice! I reentered and began drafting again. It felt so easy. I thought maybe I should push it but then figured what the hell just chill out and save it for later. Came out of the water in 57:20 – good for 79th best swim on the day.
Bike: (112 miles):
Map and profile: http://www.ironmanlakeplacid.com/bike.html
The goal here was to take the first 35+ miles easy and then settle into a rhythm. This is pretty much exactly what I did. I knew I would be passed by a bunch of people hammering up the first hill and of course this did happen. I knew riders would fly by me in the flat section from miles 18-35 and fly by me they did. Eventually I stared moving up on the bike, especially around the hilly sections. I passed most people on the crests and downhill parts – I make it a point to ride over the top and use the downhill while others rest and recover from their monster-man effort on the beginning slopes of the climb.
Overall, the bike effort felt pretty darn easy – the heart rate stayed pretty low (I think) and I kept my wattage very even. The second loop was a little slower but I think that was mostly because the wind picked up. I got off feeling pretty good although feeling the challenges of the course in my legs. Bike split: 5:21:57, 62nd fastest on the day.
Details for bike nerds:
Avg speed: 20.8 mph
Avg power: 204 watts
Normalized power: 215 watts
Avg cadence: 85
Work(kJ): 3962
One of the big challenges of the Ironman is eating enough calories to get you through the race without bonking and also without upsetting your stomach. This year, I had no problems with that. The details:
3 bottles of Infinit Nutrition custom blend: 975 calories
1 mojo bar: ~125 calories
2 cliff shots: 200 calories
1 powergel: ~100 calories
1 ironman perform sports drink: ~200 calories
~1600 calories on the bike
Run (26.2 miles):
Map and profiles: http://www.ironmanlakeplacid.com/run.html
My run plan was to take the first 7 miles easy, work the middle 14 miles, and finish with everything I had. To keep it really short and simple… only the first 7 miles went according to plan.
I felt surprisingly good coming off the bike. Even holding back and trying to run easy on the downhill miles out of town I was running nice splits. The first 7 miles felt pretty darn good. I tried to pick it up a bit and my body wasn’t responding. Ok no big deal. Keep it easy and steady, sub 10 is still well within your reach. Uphill miles coming back into town on the first loop: brutal but I’m moving. The crowds in town were great. Very motivating but unfortunately cheers do not take away the pain (they can distract you). I could hear Bo and my mom and dad cheering. I tried to rally for the downhill miles out of town and averaged 8:20 or so for those 3 miles. So I was holding it together a bit, but I think that effort was a bit of the nail in the coffin. I have most of the mile splits here but they get pretty ugly. Coming back into town on the uphill sections was so brutal. My hamstrings weren’t firing at all and fat people were passing me (luckily, they were on their first loop). I struggled through the last miles. Jon Blyer came flying by me with about 2 to go, he looked great and that was really motivating in a strange way. To put my finishing speed into perspective Jon ended up beating me by 11 minutes. Ouch! I limped though the stadium and was done! Man did if feel good to sit down. Run time: 4:05:44 (546th overall). Overall place: 171.
So here is the overall take away. I knew what I was getting into when I started this, and I knew how awful the run could be if I fell apart. But, when all is said and done I’m pretty impressed with myself that I could do that type of race on 50% of the training I did for the last one. I’m very happy with my bike and run, and I know if I really train well I can run a 3:20 off the bike. I also I’m kind of happy I went after a fast time. I know riding a 5:30 or so might have saved me 15 minutes on the run, but I wouldn’t have been in striking distance of a sub-10.
I also realize I wasn’t fully motivated for this race, so before I sign up for another I really need to want it really bad. Who knows when, if ever, that will happen? These races take a lot out of you physically and mentally. Knowing that the ironman was coming up was a constant stressor for 12 months, so I am glad that it is gone. I’m really looking forward to some down time. Super huge thanks for my friends and family and all the people that trained with me throughout the whole process. Even bigger thanks to my girlfriend Bo for dealing with me and being so supportive. I know a “training weekend” in the mountains is not much fun for someone who doesn’t want to ride a bike 100 miles a day.
Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading,
Michael