IM Lake Placid Race Report

Triathlon Forum
1

We had beautiful weather in Lake Placid yesterday. It had been hot, humid, and rainy for several days leading up to the race, but on Friday it broke, and Saturday morning was very cool and dry. On Sunday morning, it was in the low 40’s at 5:00AM as racers started heading down to transition.

The water was perfect, in the low 70’s, contrasted with the air temperature in the 40’s at start time. The swim itself was insane. Everybody I spoke to afterwards agreed that it was a slapfest. I thought it was the Grand National Pimp-Slapping Championships. I lost more time because of the crowded swim than anything else, and I got my goggles knocked off three times.

The transition tent was also crazy, although that is probably because I swam 1:15:00. I ran into the tent to find over 200 guys in there trying to get dressed for the bike.

The bike was perfect. It was a little cool at first, but not cold once you started working. Most people were wearing arm warmers on the first loop. There was not much wind on the first loop. The bike course itself was nice. The roads are better than they look from your car, which is to say, they are smoother when you aren’t going 65 on them. I didn’t think that the hills were as bad as described, but the general uphill trend of the last 10 miles does wear you down.

The second loop was warmer, and the wind picked up a little. Nonetheless, it wasn’t too bad. I managed a top speed of 48 mph on the Keene Hill. I lost a little time on the second loop, because I just don’t have the ability to push on the hills for extended periods of time.

The run was beautiful. It was a little warm, but not so warm that you would blow up because of the heat. I was pouring water over my head at every aid station, and drinking water or Gatorade. The run course is hillier than I thought, and it punished a great many people. The first loop was punishing. The second loop was torture. Many, many people were walking the run course, and I think that the only people I passed all day were those walking.

Overall, I think that the course is difficult and challenging, but fair. The weather was perfect. It was an incredible race day, as indicated by the course records that were set. (I should apologize to Kate one everyone’s behalf: Many people around me were shouting “Go Heather” when they saw the Lead Female bike coming by, because they assumed Heather was leading.)

My personal notes:

What was good:

-Crowd was awesome
-beautiful weather
-well organized event(I felt like a professional in a “real” race)
-achieved my overall goal

What sucked:

-swim was violent
-bike, swim, and transition expectations were unrealistic
-run was torture
-nutrition didn’t work out at race effort

Congrats to all Lake Placid finishers! You did great out there!

Record10Ti: 11:23:45
ajfranke: 13:07:xx
tomziebart: 16:57:xx Last Official Finisher! (Good Job, Tom!)

2

Dang, you make me search for your results: 11:55:53. Congrats!

3

We mised you at the 2;30 bike ride at high peeks cycle.

Thom

4

I didn’t want to toot my own horn.

5

I got into town around 1:30 Friday, and it took a while for me to get settled in. I looked for everyone at hte pre-race banquet, but I didn’t see anyone, except when Art stood up at one point. I thought we were meeting at the exit after the meal. I wasn’t avoiding y’all!

I did see elake posted on the run course. Thanks for the support, Eric!

I hope you had a good race, Thom.

6

good race jeff, come on out for IM AZ.

7

I was a lifeguard for the race. Had a great time and no one drowned !!Did you see me ?

8

I’m not sure if I saw you, but thank you. I have to say, the hoopla, including the support, volunteers, and the crowd, were truly amazing. Even in the thick of battle(yes, I’m talking about the swim) I was not worried about drowning. Although, I think I might have a black eye coming on. ;p

Thanks to you, and to all the people who helped out. I had the opportunity to talk to a few people I knew at the race, and to meet some new people, and they were all great.

One thing that was really cool on the swim was coming around the second greem buoy on the second lap. I looked down and saw a scuba diver sitting on the bottom looking up. I tried to wave, but was too busy being swum over by someone.

Did you see me out there? I was the guy with the Ironman wetsuit and the purple swim cap. ;p

10

Jim - thanks for the mention - It was a tough bike course - 2nd lap was brutal - my run was great - “run/walk” the weather was nice and the crowds were great. I did not experience the problems you mentioned with the swim or changing tents - of course when you are as slow as me you have no one around you on the swim and the changing tent is empty when you come into the bike transition.

Another great aspect of the Lake Placid Ironman is that it is one of the most fair races. Drafting is tough on the hills and the officials are all over the place.

The award ceremony was very nice. Simon had a GREAT speach. He is a class act and I’ll put my money on him in Kona.

It was announced at the awards ceremony that only about 200 spots were open for next year’s race and that it would fill up by tonight! People do like coming to Lake Placid for the Ironman.

A friend of mine - John Brinker qualified for Kona this weekend in Lake Placid - He won the 50-54 age-group! He beat Mike King (Karen Smyers husband) and had a great race. Good luck training for Kona, John.

11

I didn’t get mooned(maybe next time!) but I did find that many of the aid stations didn’t have soda at all by 5:30. I heard a couple of volunteers say that they never got any.

The crowd was awesome. It was cool hearing people scream “Go Morrissey!!” as I rode or ran by, and having people congratulate me out of the blue this morning was real nice too. A few of the locals I spoke to seemed like they really enjoy having the race, and even though it’s a really busy weekend, they have a good time.

The gear was overpriced, and I spent too much on it too(ironic considering that I generally don’t wear ‘brand-wear’) but it’s comparable to Superbowl apparel($30 for a Patriots World Champion hat this year) or other sports gear.

12

Congratulations!!! to you and all the other posters listed here…wow…!!!

thanks for the update and writing about your experience!!!

13

One last note on the personal side of things:

What else sucked:

-The goody bag contained no actual goodies.

Shouldn’t there be a rule about this? Can they call it a “goodie bag” when it contains only ads for products? I know this is a bit petty on my part, but the IMUSA Registration Checklist specifically says to:

5. PICK-UP YOUR GOODY BAG - Contains: Sponsor product giveaways.

But there is nothing in the bag. Except ads.

OTOH, I did get two free beer coozies at the HSBC tent.

14

The crowd was awesome. The crowd on Papa Bear and through town made me feel like a pro athlete. The volunteers are amazing people. Can’t say enough good things about everybody up there. I was disappointed to leave town. Really sucks to be back to work today. (I also got mooned.)

15

Climbing up Papa Bear, and then riding through town, were the only times on the whole bike course that I got up out of the saddle to hammer. I felt obligated to do so because of the crowds screaming. I found that when you did that, they shouted even louder. Then coming down Main Street I wanted to raise my arms up like a conquering hero. Or Lance Armstrong. But then I would have crashed. And looked kind of dumb. So instead I just enjoyed the moment. It was very cool.

It’s the hoopla, people! We’re paying for the hoopla!

(I’m getting very upset about this not being mooned thing. I’m starting to wonder if maybe I did get mooned, but missed it because I was too busy being in a semi-catatonic cycling haze.)

16

jeff, nice race. had no idea a fellow St’er was seconds behind me at the finish. don’t know how you missed the mooning…they must have went on lunch break right after i passed : P

also did you notice that one of the guys who finished between us was 2nd out of the swim? i wonder what happened to that guy’s day. did his bike break in half?

17

RSum -

I noticed that guy - you and I were 11 seconds apart - that’s one heck of a swim and a decent run, but one really disproportionate bike leg…

Great race - congrats to you and jmorrissey!

Woody

18

what can i say, i’m a shitty biker. working on it though, i improved on my bike split over my previous two bonkfests at IM Florida.

congrats on your race as well. i assume you were bib #289? you had a pretty fine swim yourself.

19

Oh no - meant no disrespect to you… was commenting on our friend with the 2nd fastest swim…

Sorry for making it sound like I was insulting you - funny how a computer screen messes up the context.

Great race anyway :wink:

Woody (yep - bib #289)

20

Congratulations to all of you for competing, whether you finished or not.

I was a bike check-in volunteer on Saturday, and I had a great time from the time I arrived in town—on Friday afternoon, waving back to a number of riders while I was out riding on part of the bike course, then until very late on Sunday evening cheering and watching the last competitors cross the line until Midnight. The look on many finishers’ faces was great to see.

I was somewhat surprised at the number of competitors who, while I was checking their bracelets and bike numbers, smiled and said to me: “Thanks for volunteering.” ---- these were some stressed-out people trying to get their bikes and transition bags organized so they would not miss the athlete’s meeting, and I felt good just being around them. I will always remember the one young guy who was in a panic and walked up to me with his bike and girlfriend in tow at around 2:00pm on Saturday, asking “Am I too late to register?” ---- I looked at him funny, then proceeded to direct him to the nearest race organizer while I watched his bike, only to have him show up in front of me to check in with his bracelet (with a big smile on his face) about 30-minutes later…followed by a handshake and a big ‘thanks for helping me out’.

Looking forward to volunteering next year, and maybe racing myself in a few years time. Great area food, great people, a great spectator event, and a nice little vacation for me----couldn’t ask for much more! Wish I had time to actually ‘meet’ some of you, but I was there cheering for most of you throughout the long day, from 7am to Midnight.

Keith

21

I tried to thank as many people as I could, even when I was trying to do 20 mph water bottle grabs(~60% hit ratio).

The post-race volunteer who helped me(Ida) was friendly, concerned, and brought me a big pile of food to eat while we chatted. She sat with me and talked for quite some time afte she knew that I was okay, and I found out that her husband had to withdraw seven miles into the run, but she was still there helping out finishers get settled down and fed.

Doing this race made me realize that I need to do my time on the other side of the race table. The folks who volunteer for these events are friendly, patient, and helpful, and work for nothing more than a T-shirt and a post-race meal.

Thanks for volunteering!