Short Version:
PR’ed the swim by 7 minutes, had a great first lap of the bike, had a shitty second lap of the bike, suffered through 14 miles of the run, hauled off the run course in an ambulance, spent 1+30 in the med tent, allowed to leave after 2 IV bags and 4 chicken broths. DNF, end of story.
Long Version:
The family and I pulled into Saranac Lake on Thursday to stay at Gauthier’s Motor Lodge (for a personal opinion of this place, PM me and I will give you details of why I wasn’t completely thrilled with their accommodations). After lunch and checking in, I zipped back to LP to register. I got down to the race venue, and saw the perfect parking spot, so I quickly dove into the spot right by the oval, on a downhill. I cut in a little too aggressively, because I hit the curb with my right front tire. No biggie I thought as I got out to make sure everything was OK. Everything was definitely not OK as I stared at an absolutely flat tire with a nasty gash in the sidewall. Turns out I just managed to catch a spot in the curb that was broken, and a sharp edge destroyed my tire. Put my money in the meter…gotta register, right? I figured I would deal with this setback later. Went and registered, then went back to the car. Did I mention it was raining? It was. Since I was parked on a downhill, the road near the curb was a torrent of water, which is exactly where my feet needed to go. About 40 minutes and much swearing later, I was good to go (to all of you who happened by a dude changing a tire on a black VW Passat station wagon with two travel cases on top, Thursday in the afternoon, and offered to help, thank you very much).
Had a great time doing a lot of the stuff everyone suggested…Tail O’ the Pup, The Wild Center, kayaking with my boy on the lake, etc. It was a great family vacation (in fact, I’m still on it, writing this from Burlington, Vermont…spent the afternoon swimming in Lake Champlain with my boys having a great time, and tomorrow its the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory!).
Swim: My swim went well. I was petrified of having another panic attack, plus I am not wicked fast in the water, so I situated myself towards the back and to the right, althought I cheated up a bit with about 60 seconds to go. The first lap was like being a spawning salmon, as I groped, pushed, and otherwise clawed my way through many, many slower swimmers. I heard Mike Reilly say they had 900 newbies at the race, and I think many of them seeded themselves too far to the front. There were many times on the first lap that I would come up behind a group of 3-4 swimming really slowly and blocking the way forward. Went through the timing gates at 38 minutes for the first lap, and exited the water with a personal best time of 1:18 (previous IM swim best 1:25). Out of the water and into T-1.
Bike: Dev Paul’s advice (and others) advice kept echoing in my head as I headed out on the bike…stay cool on the first lap, don’t big ring the climbs, spin easily. I had put on an 12-27 before the race, and I used it a lot on the first lap, spinning in the saddle up the hills and keeping my watts and HR low, keeping my eye on my HRM and my Powertap. I tried to gain time on the downhills (that run into Keene is wild…I was close to 50mph in the aerobars!) and the flats. I never felt like I was pushing at all during the entire first lap, and was truly enjoying myself, looking at the scenery, especially the run in from Wilmington to LP alongside Whiteface Mt. I was on my nutrition plan and eating my E-gels and sucking down Gatorade, although my stomach felt a little bloated. I finished the first lap in 3:06, and coupled with my swim and how I felt, I thought that going sub-13 was definitely in the cards for me. However, lap 2 of the bike was horrible. I began to cramp on that first climb coming out of LP, and they just got worse and worse. I tried to get more Gatorade in me, and I started eating bananas at every aid station, trying to get some potassium in me. The cramps were horrific from Wilmington back to LP…I could not get out of the saddle without causing massive cramps, and even putting any power into my stroke would lock up my quads. I ended up going 30+ minutes longer on the second lap, and every mile past 75 was misery. I got into T-2, and took my sweet time getting out onto the run course.
Run: I almost chucked it immediately leaving T-2 as my quads locked up on the downhill and it felt like someone was stabbing them with icepicks. I had to walk until they loosened up a bit, and then I tried to run the flats. I got to the first aid station desperate for chicken broth, as I was covered in salt by this time and knew I had to get more sodium into me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t out yet on the course (never was while I was out there), so I took in some coke and gatorade at every station. I tried to eat pretzels, but they were like sawdust in my mouth and I couldn’t get them down. I hooked up with a nice lady named Jen about a mile out from the run turnaround on River Road, and we ran together a while. I thought if I could just get a rhythm going, I would be OK, but even a 10:00 min/mile pace was too much for me to hold, and I bid adieu and a good race to Jen (if you are on this forum, I hope everything went well for you). I began walking more and more, and running less and less, as the cramps got progressively worse. My right leg would literally lock into a bent position so I would have to walk it out and then resume running. By the time I got to the second lap, I really didn’t think finishing was going to happen. But my family was there, and I thought I could just HTFU, so I started out on the second lap after going 3 hours for the first 13 miles. It was only about 6:30, and figured I could freakin’ crawl to the finish at this point before midnight. I got to mile 14 and things started getting bad. I sat down and tried to regroup, but my legs were cramping so bad that my bent legs cramped while sitting down. As I stood up, the world kind of swirled a bit, and I could feel myself getting light headed and dizzy. I realized I was also getting a bit disoriented, so when I saw a cop, I knew what I had to do. I asked if he could give me a lift back to transition, and when he turned and looked at me, he immediately asked if I wanted an ambulance (I was covered in salt from head to toe at this point…completely white…random racers were asking me if I was OK and one dude even gave me a baggy of Endurolytes…thanks, dude! Tried to get them down, and nearly hurled). I said no, I just probably needed some help getting back. He offered to walk with me back to an aid station, so I said yes, but immediately stumbled a bit, and he grabbed me and helped me to some steps, where I sat down until the ambulance came. I got in the ambulance, and began to shiver like there was no tomorrow. I just could not get warm. They hauled me to the med tent, and determined I was about 7 or so pounds light, and immediately put in an IV. I had a space blanket, two other blankets, and two warm bags of water under each arm pit and I couldn’t stop shivering. My teeth even started chattering a bit. They hung another bag of fluids and also gave me chicken broth, and that combo brought me back to the point I could leave the med tent. I found my wife, and I headed back to the hotel, another IM DNF to my credit.
Aftermath / Lessons learned: 2 days later, my legs still feel like shit. Although I used the same nutrition plan and pacing that I used successfully at IM Wisconsin last year (13:25), and again this year in a tune up Half IM and century ride, I think that when the sun is out, and its not below 70 degrees, I must have a salt supplement. I just lose too much salt when the sun gets out and the temps get warmer than around the low 70s. R10C saw me at the end of Rockman this June, and gave me a bottle of Endurolytes, but I figured my plan from IM Wisconsin from last year would still work, plus I was fine at Rockman, no cramping at all. But at IM distances and in anything approaching warm temps, I’m gonna have to come up with something different…maybe Infinit that I can mix nice and salty. I know my fitness wasn’t the factor as I PR’ed the swim and did better on the first lap of the bike than I thought I would do while holding my energy output down and not feeling like I was working hard at all. But I have to figure out my nutrition once and for all.
I didn’t sign back up for next year. I think that 2008 is going to be a year of regrouping, and getting back to training for fun. Too often this year I headed out to get ready for IMLP with little motivation. But I will be back for redemption at this course. The swim is gorgeous, it is absolutely stunning scenery to bike through, the town is great for the run, and a great place to bring the family. I will be back.
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