Well for once I will not run or hit the pool during lunch time… Why not “quickly” write the great experience I had on Sunday during my first Ironman in Lake Placid.
Sorry no picture, since my “personal phtographer” forgot to bring the USB cable 
So if you do not have a lot of time and/or do not care I will start with the executive summary and then if you want you can enjoy the very lengthy version…
Executive summary:
2.4 miles Swim:
Time: 1H14; overall position: 995/2208 (goal was: a) survive the swim b) 1H15/1H20)
T1: 9:43 (goal was 5 min)
112 miles Bike:
Time: 5H56; overall position: 486/2208, bike position: 382/2208 (goal was: 6H)
T2: 6:43 (goal was 5 min)
Marathon:
Time: 4H14; overall position: 406/2208, marathon position: 425/2208 (goal was: a) to run as much as possible and feel ok b) 4H)
Final time: 11H40:20, finished 406 out of 2208 participants (goal was: a) avoid the medical tent b) finish the IM and c) 11H30)
Lengthy and hopefully not too boring version:
We arrived in Lake Placid on Wednesday afternoon and stayed @ the Crown Plaza (Long story short: the original plan was to stay @ the Marriott but on the day they told me the “inventory” will be available for reservation, the hotel was already fully booked @ 7AM!!!) so we ended up selecting the JackRabbit Inn about 4 miles out of town. Unfortunately the hotel burnt down and they told me I would have a bunker bed room in the hostel which was still up. 10 days before IMLP I found out I do not have a room!!! So we end up @ the Crown Plaza).
I dropped my bike @ High Peaks for a quick tune up and I bought a jar of Gatorade Endurance Formula since we cannot buy it in Canada and I wanted my stomach to get used to it for the marathon. After we unpacked I went for 1 loop swim in Mirror Lake while my Delphine, my wife, and Mia my daughter were having fun on the beach. That loop ended up being more 1 ¼ of loop as I was apparently zigzagging all over the place instead of going in a straight line (I know there is a straight cord below I could have used but why make things easier when you can make them complicated?). My chest felt a bit compressed in my wetsuit and I never felt comfortable. Time of 39 minutes. It did not look good for the swim on Sunday. I also had a little bit of Gastric Issues (I really really need to learn to not drink all of the lake or pool when I swim!)
On Thursday morning, I went for a loop in Mirror Lake. Same sensation but a bit faster in 37 minutes… How am I going to swim 2 loops surrounded by 2207 other athletes? It still does not look good. Hopefully I can survive the swim on Sunday and maybe maybe hit 1h20! How about 1h30? It suddenly sounds appealing!!
Then I went for a 1H bike ride, followed by a 25-minute run @ 3h30 marathon pace. Then it poured rain all afternoon. Luckily we had to pick Dana a friend of Delphine @ Port Kent and took the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Ausable Chasm! Fortunately there is an indoor pool @ the Crow Plaza which helped cope with the rain! I also took care of registration. I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the whole registration process thing and was expecting a bit better. I was also in shock to find that it would cost $75 US to get a “basic” picture of me crossing the finishing line (I still have the $75 US in my bank account as of now!).
Friday was off and again it was raining which hopefully meant a dry Sunday. We took our time and enjoyed the view on top of the Olympic 120 meter ski jump. Those guys are nuts! But it must be an incredible sensation of gliding. I wonder who came up with the idea of “hey guys, I am bored today. Instead of doing some cross-country skiing, let’s jump form a 120 meter platform @ 60 MPH with our skis!”
Then I went to the mandatory athlete meeting (which is actually not mandatory) and was disgusted by the amount of food that was thrown away during the carbo load dinner I did not attend! There is unfortunately a lot of people starving and this was unacceptable!
Saturday morning, I went for a quick 11 min run then 12 min swim then 30 min bike ride before getting ready to bring my bike and T1 and T2 bags into transition. Once everybody brought their bikes, there must be over US 5M worth of bike equipment!
The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the view on top of Witheface Mountain!
We then went for the “traditional” 5PM dinner the day before the Ironman. My wife and friends were quite astonished no reservation between 4h30 & 6H PM @ were available anywhere but you could easily eat wherever you wanted after 6H30PM. J Then I went to bed @ 9h30 and felt asleep around midnight.
Surprisingly during the last week, I did not feel stressed about the whole Ironman thing and did not go crazy nor did I panic. No butterflies, no worries (which does not mean I was not a pain in the butt for my family J) Even though I was constantly reminding myself in the back of my head how I would be able to finish the swim….
I woke up @ 4h15 on Sunday morning and started to get things organized and started to gulp down one of my two Ensure Plus can (about 700 calories). and then I had the best cheer and wave with my wife and her friend wishing best of luck @ 5AM “goooooooooooooooo Freeeeeddddddddddd” and then headed down to the transition area around 5h30 with a friend of mine… Got organized and ready and when I walked from the transition area toward the lake on the carpet I would run on latter on after the swim I told myself “can’t wait to run on that carpet! But what will it take???”… Started to drink a bottle of Infinit (about 250 calories), surprisingly I was quite relaxed even though it was a bit cold! I went into the water around 6h50 to make sure I could get a quick warm-up and let my body get acclimated to the “cold temperature” of the lake.
The forecast for the day was magnificent: High of 75 with little wind and blue sky. It could not be better! It Could be a tad warm during the end of the bike/first part of the marathon though but nothing like a furnace or a hurricane or a downpour!
The swim:
I decided to position myself on the far right away from the buoys but also away from the crowd. I was however about 10 rows behind the start line… No way I was going to start from the back even though I had no clue how I would handle swimming with 2207 swimmers around me. BOOMMMM! The canon went off and I started to swim. Surprisingly I did not panic at all and was able to get into a nice rhythm breathing on alternate sides immediately. I was mostly looking for open water with nobody around me as much as possible. I of course ended up being pushed here and there passed over here and there and did the same… but it was very “gentle”. After 5/10 minutes I started to realize I was actually doing an Ironman and that the swim was going pretty well!! Then came the turn around and I had to “explain” to some folks that to actually turn left, you have to go left and not straight or right. They apparently understood me even though no words were spoken J . Then since I was actually starting to have fun I decided to stick along the buoy line to avoid swimming an extra 100/200 meters.
While during the out of the first loop I was looking for open water trying to avoid contact as much as possible, starting from the back of the first loop I was actually looking for people to draft of them! I was literally having fun out there! Did not mind at all the “contact”. Each time I was passing next to a buoy and realizing that I was actually within a meter or so of that buoy not only was I proud of myself but also I was thinking about my wife, Delphine, and all her zigzagging comments and how “blind” I was! End of the first loop in 35:4X (fastest Half Ironman swim ever) and instead of not wanting to go back for a second loop I was actually looking forward to it. & to top it all my name was called.
During the second loop I stayed along the buoy line and I tried to find a pair of feet I could grab for a draft. I was actually worried when I had open water in front of me! I was having fun “jumping” from pair of feet to pair of feet… unbelievable. However, this is when I realized that I would need to stop @ the port-a-potty. Either I ate too much pasta the night before or I unintentionally drank too much lake water or both… got out of the water in 1:13:57… Wow! Not only a minute faster that my best hope but also I felt fresh… Saw my friends and family. I cannot imagine how relieved my wife must have felt when she saw me!!! I found an available wetsuit stripper. Sit on my butt, put my legs up and within 5 seconds the wetsuit was off (she was super fast) and off I was into transition (T1).
T1:
I run the whole time all the way to the transition and actually I passed quite a few people. Grabbed my T1 bag and went to the change tent… then I stood there “forever” looking at the mess and the crowd trying to find a spot… What I was doing there standing and not moving!!! Do not know but I “lost some time”… I knew exactly what I had to do though. I had my bike short under my wetsuit so I only applied some “butt cream”. I however decided to not wear my top during the swim, concerned the first few miles would be quite chilly especially with a 10-mile long descent/flat section. It took me forever to put my top on (lesson learned… suck it up princess… this is an Ironman and not a 5-start hotel (even though we were staying @ the Crown Plaza J). I decided to not wear arm warmers… Put my helmet on, put my sunglasses on, put my pump in my back pocket… lot of baby powder in my cycling shoes since I was not wearing socks (started to do so a week before the IM. Next time I will put it before the start) and off I was holding my shoes… As I said, I had to stop @ the port-a-potty. Waited maybe 20/30 seconds then I went…. Dam!!! No paper toilet (or maybe I did not look carefully) & there is no way I was going to “suck it up princess” on this one! I waited for another 20/30 seconds. This time I was “good to go”… Yelled my number to a volunteer then in turn he yelled my number and on my way toward my bike I was. I happily found my bike in front of the bike rack in the hands of a very nice volunteer and I did not have to go all the way to the end of the bike rack to grab it! Kept running with my bike in one hand and my shoes in the others…
I cannot believe I lost a good 5 minutes in there!!! Stupid me!!!
Bike
6 days before the IM, I ended up getting a 2006 Quintana Roo Lucero from local pro triathlete and two-time Ironman Wisconsin winner Dave Harju. This was absolutely not planned but when you can save almost 50% off a very fast fast bike from a reliable person… you cannot miss such an opportunity. Then I faced the dilemma of doing an IM with my “cheap 5-year old” road bike with a Lucero sitting in my garage or doing an IM with a Lucero and at most 4 hours on the saddle knowing that my back would most likely kill me after 3, maybe 4 hours due to a more aero/flat position, my legs may not be able to hold the whole ride with the forward seat position and finally the fact that I had only 2 chain rings instead of 3 which would “force” me to push a bit more on all those hills to most likely affect my marathon! What the hell! Even though people do not recommend to change your crank length by a mere 2.5 mm less than a month before an IM, what could go wrong by changing bike and geometry six days out (after all the Lucero is 6lbs lighter, a lot more aero and a lot more responsive)!
My strategy was to keep my heart rate below/around 140 during the flat and downhill portions and below 153/155 for the hills. My plan was to climb every hill on the small chain ring and biggest cog/gear.
My nutrition strategy was two bottles of Infinit + some gels (Margarita Cliff blocks) per loop for about 1050 calories and 1800 mg of Sodium (also called “my drugs” by my wife Delphine J) and one bottle of water that I would grab @ a aid station or a total of 2100 calories and 3600 mg of Sodium for the bike.
My final strategy was regarding the aero position. My plan was to ride all the flats section in the aero position but as soon there was a bit of a climb, even not really worth getting out of the aero position I would just to “save my back”.
So here I am on my bike on the Lake Placid course with a big big smile on my face! And boom after about 1K one of my two bottle of Infinit comes out of the bottle cage! Crap… Had to stop, slightly go back and picked it up. Then on my way to the first hill of the day.
At the beginning of the first loop, the long continuous line of rider was quite amazing! How I am suppose to not draft and keep a 7-bike length with the bike in front of me?
Then we started to head down over Keene on that long downhill stretch and suddenly I heard a big “boom” then someone yelled “rider down”… At least one rider went down about 5/7 riders behind me… There was no point for me to stop and make matter worse. I was very fortunate I was not involved in the crash and I hope the riders involved were able to get up and keep riding (note to self: another motivation to get out of the water a lot faster!). I decided to pick up the pace in the downhill to see what the Lucero was capable of doing while dancing/slaloming around riders and yelling on top of my lungs “to your left”. I am not a very good descender but I ended up hitting 77 Km/h(48M/h)… Not super fast… but fast for me.
Then we started the hard climb toward Jay followed by the rolling hills of the out and back then the long and slow climb toward Lake Placid and I was passing riders one by one…At the beginning of that long/slow climb my chained popped out! Crap! I stopped and just before I was about to put it back on someone told me to “take it easy and relax” which I ended up doing and I was able to rapidly put back the chain and hopped back on my bike (thank you!). The scenery is magnificent and I made sure to enjoy it. When I started the climb of Papa bear (the last “major” difficulty of the loop since it is about 2 miles before the end of the loop and therefore @ mile 54 and 110), I noticed the huge line of people on both sides of the street 3 to 4 people deep cheering! It really really felt like climbing the Alpe D’Huez during the Tour de France! It was amazing and difficult to not go hard to keep my heart rate down.
Back into Lake Placid along Mirror Lake and Main street was amazing! It really really felt like the final 500 meters of a stage of a Tour de France and this is where I saw my family and friends! It was truly fantastic and it reminded I needed to find a way to convince my wife to do it again next year because I was having a blast!
I stopped @ the Special Need bag, to grab my two other bottles of Infinit, apply a bit of sunscreen, apply a bit more of “butt cream” while my family was watching and then “throw” instead of handing to my daughter a snack (since they were on the other side of the road and there were too many riders passing by). I also had a spare tire in the special need bag just in case, but since folks told me I was probably not going to see that bag again and I am pretty cheap I put the spare tire in one of my back pocket J
I decided to not pee during the first loop and hold it which was not very smart. I finished the first loop in 2H52 and the actual ride time was about 2H49 (stopped for dropped bottle, chain, and special need bag) which meant I averaged about 32Km/h (20Mph) on a hilly course… Hopefully I did not go too fast and would not blow up during the second loop!
Second loop went pretty well and I stopped once (actually maybe twice) to pee but since I hold it for that long a) it took forever for me to start to pee and b) it took forever to empty a super full bladder (note to self I really need to learn to pee while ridding) and I passed a bunch of people during the second loop… Only one, maybe two riders, during the whole second loop passed me. The funny thing is several times I ended up passing people then they were passing me, then I was passing them again, and sometimes we repeated the whole process one more time before they were “definitively gone forever”. I was not doing anything fancy just trying to produce a constant/steady effort!
The headwind picked up a bit and it made things a lot more difficult (I was not able to go faster on the descend the second time) and I had to push a bit harder to maintain a good pace on the flats and decided to maintain the same hear rate on the hills and “allow” 140/145 on the flats. My back was doing great! My legs were of course a bit tired at the end of a challenging course but I was feeling good.
Second loop in 3H04:30 (with one maybe two pee breaks). People say if you can keep the time of your second loop within 10 minutes of the time of your first loop, you paced yourself correctly which I apparently did since I am within 12/13 minutes and some folks with serious IM LP experience said the second loop was a lot tougher with the headwind. I am very happy with that!
The question was: did I go to fast on the bike course?
I have to say I am very happy I took a gamble with the bike and the Lucero. This is a fantastic bike and I cannot wait to participate in the Half Ironman in Ottawa and then Montreal in September on extremely fast course and see how fast I can go!
T2:
Just before entering the transition, I saw my family and friends another time! I gave my bike to a volunteer just after the dismount line and felt like a pro with “special privileges”. However, I found it quite surprising that none of the riders arriving at the same time I did, kept the bike shoes on the bike and were actually running with them, while I was running bare feet.
However, the small amount of time I gained was rapidly lost since I had to stop to pee @ the port-a-potty and again it took forever. I may have drink too much or most likely I drank half of the lake during the swim!
I grabbed my T2 bag and went into the change tent which was a lot more calm and less chaotic than during T1. However, I took a bit of time. Chatted briefly with the guy next to me. Put my socks, my shoes on. Replaced my cycling short with a running short and my top as well (wanted fresh clothes for the run). I put some sunscreen.
Marathon****
I know I can cruise through a marathon in about 4 hours. I also know I can run for 30 mins after a 6H bike ride. Can I combine both?
On my way out, I saw again my family and friends and was very excited to see them twice within 15 minutes! I looked at my watch and it was 2:26PM which meant I had 4 Hours and 4 minutes to come home in sub 11H30! Let’s rock & roll!
The first 3 miles went fairly easily since it was mostly downhill/flat averaging about 8:25/mile (3h40 marathon) but it did not registered immediately it was downhill and was concerned I was going a bit fast. My legs were a bit heavy but ok. Then I started the out and back on River road across from the ski jumping complex and while things were ok, things were also starting to get a bit tougher. It was like running the last 4/5 miles of a marathon and I had still 21 to run… Why on earth did I sign for that thing (I no longer need to convince my wife to sign up for next year)? Why people do it more than once? But I was still running and knew it was more a mental game than a physical came.
My plan was to grab water, Gatorade, and gels during the first loop and then starting the second loop or earlier add Coke to the mix. I made two mistakes which most likely cost me a 4H marathon. First I grabbed something @ almost every aid station which I perfectly knew was unnecessary and was going to probably cause me some gastric issues. Why I did it? Do not know… But it took me quite some time to actually skip aid stations and run through them. However since it was quite hot, I grabber two/three sponges @ each aid station. Since I was grabbing something @ every aid station, I started to have some minor cramps in both my calves… “Just relax Fred… Stop #$$#$@# drinking or you are going to create an electrolyte imbalance!” My stomach was also not the most happy organ in my body but it was not that bad. I ended up peeing once @ mile 7 or so (and it was the only time during the whole marathon).
Then I was done with the out and back on River road with a beautiful view of the ski jumping complex. I however knew it meant it was the beginning of the challenging section of that marathon. There was a first hill that was quite steep and long (if you ask me) “Keep running Fred… no walking Fred!!! Suck it up!!!” Unfortunately it was only the appetizer and the long and very steep hill back into town was coming very very soon! I ran the whole thing which was very tough but there were some many people cheering and yelling that I almost had very tiny winy wings on my back! I saw my family (and give a big kiss to my daughter) and friends at the very top of that hill (the hill is in two portions: a very steep first portion and after you take a sharp left turn and hope it is over) a second portion that is a lot flatter just pop up!) and I hoped I looked strong to mostly reassure my wife! Did the out and back along Mirror Lake which was amazing with all the crowd support!
Check my watch. First loop (i.e. half marathon in about 1h59) still on target for a 4H run but I perfectly knew that was not going to happen. I did put a special need bag on the run and here I was… only 13.1 miles from the finish line… from being an Ironman.
However this is when the Ironman really really starts. Everything up to that point was “warm-up” and I will soon know whether I went to hard on the bike, whether I messed up my nutrition, whether I went too fast on the first loop of the marathon, or all of the above!.
My legs were feeling heavier and heavier but I was still determined to hit 4H and I knew that I had to “speed up” during those first 3 downhill/flat miles of the second loop to bank some time.
I also knew I was running low on energy as I made the second nutrition mistake on the run by having only eating two gels (200 calories) at that point!
Off course this is when the mental game was at his peak “if you just walk nice and easy, you will still be an Ironman” “Hey Dude, I am not here to walk! I want to hit 11h30 now!” “Hey moron! Do you know how nice it will be to just seat there and relax! “ “Yes you are right! Let’s walk” Dam! I started for the first time to walk @ mile 17 on the out and back on River Road “You are a looser you #$@$@#@#$@ moron” “Well maybe but it is so nice and it does not hurt anymore!” “ok! Let’s walk until this sign over there”. Of course the people that were running were going passing me and going pretty fast… “R@#$@#$@#$%$%#$”
It took my about 3/5 minutes to realize that the people who were running were going faster than me! And then another 1 or 2 minute to see someone passing me and going @ a pace it seemed reasonable, albeit slow, to run with. This is when I also made the decision to completely forget about 4H marathon and 11h30 Ironman and just finish “as fast as possible”. Not that I look back, I believe that walk ended up being a smart move and allowed me to regroup!
I started to run with a woman and actually within 5 minutes my legs kind of came back and “lost” unintentionally my running partner who probably saved my run. I was running and I felt kind of good. One mile at a time… One step @ time and you will be home free.
Then I hit mile 20. The famous mile 20 of a marathon! I grabbed my third gel! Chocolate flavor! Arghh, I really dislike chocolate flavor! Well no choice since I was low on energy! Very rapidly my stomach told me he was not very happy at all with my decision! “Well guess what dude, deal with it!”
This is when came up with my final 6-mile strategy. You will walk the first “appetizer hill” and then keep running even on the big/long/steep hill until the finish line! I actually run the first half of the “appetizer hill” and decided to walk the second half to make sure I had enough energy to finish!
Once the hill was over… I started running, slowly, but I was running and I was not going to stop… well… Then I saw that hill that magically became bigger/longer/steeper. NO! I will run it! & I did. Again the crowd! Again the family and friends”
Mile 25 one more $#@$@#$ mile which I run with a guy from Scotland and we help each other through that last long mile!.
Finally I entered the Oval and grabbed my daughter to cross the finish line. Unfortunately she started to cry a bit as not only she was overwhelmed by the situation but was up since 5AM and outdoor since 6H30 AM and it was 6H40 PM and she is only 3 1/2. I barely was able to run that last 100 yard and she was quite heavy for my very very very tired legs but I crossed the finish line!!
“FRED YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”
“$#@$@#$, I did it!” but I did care about it too much then….
After the finish
A volunteer grabbed my and I had only one though in mind! My daughter! She was crying, I was starting to lose it and was “out there” (i.e. physical and mental fatigue came as the adrenaline rushed suddenly stopped”. A nice volunteer told me she would bring my daughter to the “meeting point”. I had no clue what she was talking about and there was no way I was going to leave my daughter here like that… I actually saw my wife waiting for her, so everything was ok. I also saw my friends! and went for a massage kind of like wondering around but feeling ok.
Suddenly my stomach started to express itself and was afraid to vomit. Luckily I lied down for a quick massage which help my stomach settled down…. I started to get cold! & I ended up wearing two t-shirts, a polar fleece and a warm planet.
Within 5/10 minutes I was ok and it was time to go back the hotel and climb one more hill…
I took a nice ice bath (I think we emptied the whole ice from the vending machine), went to grab something to eat and have of course a beer! And then we went back to finish line to see folks finish around 16/17 hour. This was quite amazing and the last guy Tom to cross the finish line @ 16h58:XX less than two minutes before the cut off time received a fantastic standing ovation! It was magical
So…
Well I am an Ironman, actually I am part of an Ironfamilly. Without my wife and daughter help/support, dealing with my moods/4h30AM wake up call to go train/etc… this would not have been possible. They did all the dirty jobs/behind the scenes. They also were out there for the whole 11H40 I was and I knew it must have been tough for them. I can only assume, how relieved they were each time they saw me and then had to wait for 2 to 3 hours to see me again, to see I was ok….
What’s next?
Well take a bit of break, take a week off running and start biking and swimming very easy two/three days after… I will skip IMLP 2008 but maybe I will try again IMLP in 2009. First I want to qualify for Boston Marathon (3H15 qualifying time)!
Fred.
