IMLP

I think I am suffering from post-event depression. Today is day 4 of no exercise and eating tons of crap. Donuts, chips, Cheetos, cookies, ice cream, 8 slices of pizza (minus the end crust) at a pizza buffet... but nothing really tastes good unless it's really salty or cheesy or sweet so hence the choices of food. AND my immune system is rebelling and it hurts to swallow, yawn, and sneeze. I guess I am also still stressed since there are some lingering personal issues and now the realization I have to keep training. I mean, I LIKE training, I like it a lot but I guess I was interested in a break. Though I'm not sure what I would do on weekends if I didn't train. I know I have friends here, but they are the ones I swim or bike with, not necessarily the ones I call to go to the mall or see a movie or get dinner or grab a drink after work. But anyways, this is supposed to be a race report, not a rant report.

IM Lake Placid
July 26, 2009
Total time - 12:33:37
Overall place - 801
Age group place - 2/7
Swim - 1:18:56
Place - 1406/6
T1 - 13:13
Bike - 6:48:39
Place - 1333/4
T2 - 6:52
Run - 4:05:58
Place - 340/1

The race went by a lot faster than I expected. I trained for 5 months and then poof, all done! I beat my goal of 13 hours by over 26 minutes, beat my bike time despite dying on the second lap by 11 minutes, and almost nailed the run. My Garmin tells me I did a 4:01, but I stopped at the porta-potty twice.



It rained before the start, making me really nervous. Apparently it rained during the swim too, but I was wet and didn't notice. Didn't get too kicked or beaten during the swim despite over 2200 starters and tried to draft as much as possible. The swim was nice such that I didn't really have to sight that much. I lifted my head mostly to check how far along the course I was. First lap was faster than the second since there was a larger draft and I had more open water on the second lap. The second lap just felt long and I could see some blue sky peaking out and I really wanted to get on my bike.



Ran to T1 and had to decide which helmet to wear. Went with the non-aero which was a good choice since it got sunny and warm during the bike. Almost fell off at the mount line since it was chaos and the girl in front of me abruptly stopped just as I had gotten on my bike. Once on my bike I felt like I was flying. Felt so good for the first loop, passing lots of people. After passing through town at the beginning of the second lap I could feel my quads start to tighten up. Which then just keep tightening and by mile 80 I was so ready to get off my bike. My butt hurt and my shoulders hurt. By mile 96 my crotch hurt too and I was getting really frustrated. The last 12 miles of each loop is uphill and the last 16 miles of the bike was the most painful since probably the first marathon I ever ran. Average speed for the last 20 miles dropped to 13 mph.



Finally got back to T2 and was so happy. Got on my shoes, had a gel, and took off. The first 5-7 miles my stomach was bothering me and I switched from gatorade to semi-flat cola, which seemed to help a lot. My coach said don't walk, so I didn't. Only times I stopped were when I went to the porta-potty. Ran up the big hills at the end of the run loops too. I have never figured out a good strategy for marathon pacing, and since my coach said keep an even pace I was doing 9 minute miles for the first loop that got slower for the second. Overall it felt like I really wasn't out there for that long. I think I could have run faster too, but since I had fucked up my bike pacing I didn't want to fuck up the run too, and kept it conservative. But since I was fine by Monday night, at least muscle wise, I guess I had more in me.

My awesome friend Deb who I swim with at master's and turned 50 on race day! She's on my list-of-people-I-know who are my heroes.

I can't believe my first ironman is over. Nor can I believe I got a Kona rolldown slot. Like I never ever even thought that would happen. But I've got a plane ticket! What I know I need to figure out for Kona is my nutrition, mostly for the bike. I was getting sick of Clif Bars on the bike and found the Pop-Tarts kept crumbling, making them hard to eat while moving. I ended up with 3 Clif Bars, 1 Lara Bar, and maybe just over 1 packet of Pop-Tarts as my solid food, plus 1.5 bottles of Gatorade in my bottle and whatever I managed to squirt into my aerodrink and also drink while passing through aid stations. My run nutrition seemed to work though, since my legs didn't hurt much at all. 5 gels total, one approximately every 5 miles at an aid station, with water the aid station after, and 1 cup of cola per each 2 aid stations after those. Repeat that 5 times. And luckily the weather was warm for Lake Placid, but just pleasant for me compared to what I've been training in here.

Most importantly, I want to thank all my friends who supported me along the way, my parents for coming, Heather for being my awesome sherpa and putting up with my crap during race weekend, Jocelyn for always encouraging me, Stan for riding with me and putting up with my shit during training, and most especially, my coach, Mark Cavallaro. Without him I don't think I could have gotten here!