Here’s a rundown of how IMLP went for me.
I drove up Thursday, got situated, and mostly relaxed for the next few days. I did a very, very easy swim on Friday, and the 30 minute easy run and 20 minute easy ride you suggested on Saturday. My family finally made it up there on Saturday and I declined the walk around town in order to stay of my feet and relax. Lots of eating/drinking, but not too much.
Sunday, race day:
Got up at 3:30 to eat my breakfast – 4 Ensures, a bagel w/PB and a banana. Back to sleep until 5:00.
Got up, went down to body marking/bag drop, I had them put an exclamation point after the number 49 on my calf.
Got into my wetsuit and jumped in the lake around 6am, warmed up easy. The new wave start format had my group going out first after the pros at 6:35. After we started things quickly took shape. I was in the top 4, and we were swimming at what I felt was a moderate pace. I’d say 60%. We traded pulls, well a couple of guys did, I just sat in and went along for the ride. After 4/4 of a lap we caught the bulk of the pro women’s field. A little traffic, but no big deal. One odd thing – my left hip flexor was tight. I chalked it up to a relatively new wetsuit. Or something. According to my watch the first lap was around 25-26 minutes.
Lap 2 – things get interesting. Almost as soon as we reentered the water we caught the back of the last group into the water. Utter mayhem. Now I know what people are so nervous about in regards to the swim. Punched, kicked, clawed, grabbed, you name it. I was swimming with a female pro who I believe was in first place for her field. She seemed to be threading the needle very well, so I stayed on her feet. We made the turn onto the back half of the lap and it was just wall to wall people, almost completely stopped, but still thrashing. And now my hip flexor is very tight, with the right side joining in. We fought our way through, somewhere along the way picking up a passenger who felt it was important to not just tap my feet every stroke, but grab them like we were shaking hands. I’d give a few “Get Lost” kicks, but they’d come right back. ¾ through the last lap and now my hip flexors feel like they’ve been doing curls with 50 lbs weights for 45 minutes. Finally, we approached the end, and I gave a final few emphatic strokes to get away from Handsy behind me, and run out of the water.
Swim - 52ish minutes
I got my wetsuit off with the help of one of the strippers (what a great thing) and calmly jogged down the carpet, found my bag, and got to the T1 tent. By now, my hip flexors were in full cramp mode and I could hardly walk erect. I tried to stretch them out, but theyd cramp harder when I tried. This resulted in a very long T1.
After thanking the volunteer for the help and patience, I somehow made it over to my bike, which another volunteer had brought over. I can’t say enough how impressive these people are. What a great organization.
A light rain was falling, and I exited out of T1 very slowly, not knowing if I’d make it even 5 minutes. To my surprise, I was able to peddle pretty comfortably, and just took that first eight mile climb very easy. When we crested and the road started to go downhill, I’d stand and try to stretch my hips out. This seemed to work in increments. By the time the second lap rolled around my hips felt usable again and I just tried to settle in to a reasonable pace. I avoided the large packs of riders that were drafting off each other – the last thing I wanted was to get a penalty and stand around for a few minutes. My plan was to ride according to watts. Of course, it had rained a little bit, so my power meter no longer worked so it was up to me to ride according to PE. Fine, I prefer it that way.
As I climbed the last hill, the thought of running a marathon loomed large. Having injured my leg a month before, and having almost no running miles since the injury, I really didn’t expect to last long on the run. I thought I’d have to start walking after a half hour, maybe an hour at most.
My bike time (10:39ish) was around 10 minutes faster than last year. I consumed about a bottle (350 calories) per hour, and a few salt tablets.
I started the run feeling fine. Looked at my watch and saw I was running at a 7:20 pace. WHOA there buddy. Slooow down. Even down the hill leading out of town I forced myself to keep a 8:30 pace at the fastest, hoping to delay the dreaded collapse that was sure to come. At mile 2 I passed some poor guy who started running backwards. “Please, I don’t want to turn into that guy” I thought, and looked at my pace. 8:35. Great.
As soon as things would start to tighten up in legs I’d stop briefly and stretch out. This caused a leapfrog effect between me and Injured Guy, the man I saw running backwards earlier. By now he was listing to one side. I offered him a salt cap, but he said he was okay. This went on for the entire first lap. I’d slow down and stretch, he somehow limp/stumble/stagger past me. After a while I started thinking that he was the version of me that wasn’t being as cautious as I was.
Amazingly, by the time the turnaround in town came up I was still feeling very good. Of course, I wasn’t going hard, and I was stopping to stretch, but still, I had expected to be walking by this point, so I was feeling very confident. It was at this point that we heard that Andy Potts was coming up on us about to finish. Just as he was about to go by me we passed one of those official race photographers. SNAP. “Holy crap, I think that guy just took a photo of me in front of the race winner. Sure, he’s an entire lap ahead, but photos don’t lie (They don’t tell the truth either).
The second lap went on the same way, the only difference being the slow fatigue that sets in during a marathon no matter what pace you run it. With 2 miles to go a guy in my age group whom I know a little passed me. I chased him up the hill and kept within striking distance as we turned towards the lake. “Go Dale, Go Dale” I kept hearing. Putting the names on our race numbers is a genius move, I felt like my family was right there cheering me on. In fact, look there, my family IS cheering me on! At the last corner before heading to the out and back there they were, as shocked as I was that I wasn’t just moving forwards, but actually running. I gave them a high five and continued the chase.
We entered the skating oval and I was steps behind my fellow AGer, I knew I’d catch him.
A side note: When I finished last year, I entered the final stretch in a haze, having almost completely collapsed on the run, only finishing on fumes. My wife, kids, mother, father in law were all there waiting in the hot sun for hours waiting for me. Their reward? I shuffled passed them all, not seeing or hearing any of them.
Back to the action – We turned the last corner. I was close enough to touch him. And suddenly…Hey, there’s my son! My daughter! Where’s my wife? Not there…over there?..No…There?..hmmm… Ah, there she was. I high fived them all, said thank you to them for making to the finish line so quickly and stepped across the line in time to see the gentleman I was trying to catch being helped away by several people, his legs just dragging along.
I went over and grabbed a slice of pizza and a chocolate milk. Felt pretty darned good.
Finishing time 10:39
No KQ, but I finished strong and happy.
