Ironman Lake Placid 2008

I first did the Ironman in Lake Placid, two years ago. Although I finished (16:41), I had a tough day primarily due to a failure in my nutrition plan. I actually gained 6 lbs during the race and wound up spending the night in the ER to replenish my electrolytes.

I made the tough decision to attempt Ironman Lake Placid again. I felt that I could apply lessons learned in terms of nutrition and training would go better. (I was in the Navy Reserves as well two years ago, making training a bit of a challenge due to military obligations.)

And my training did go better this go around. I felt very much prepared for the race. However, during my 20 mile run, my right knee buckled. This was about a month before Ironman race day. I have had knee problems for several years, but have learned how to basically keep things in check and stay healthy. However, this time, I was apparently suffering from some tightness in my IT band and other tissues, causing my kneecap to be unable to move freely. It was simply "one of those things" and not preventable. I went through some aggressive physical therapy, even up until two days before the race, as my PT (Kerri, PT Extraordinaire) was there in Lake Placid. Alas, my knee simply did not heal completely in time.

I elected to go through with the race primarily because I had put so much time and effort into it and thought I would be all right as long as I didn't let my mind focus on the knee. I had let it rest in the several days leading up to the race. I was diligent with physical therapy. I thought I would be just fine.

I started out race morning calm and collected. I woke at 3:15 and had coffee. Breakfast was my usual spinach omelet and 2 Boosts. (Ever see that commercial for eggs where the egg is doing the triathlon? That's me. My triathlons and long training rides are fueled by eggs.) I was stoked for a great day.

Helen (the best IronMate ever!) dropped off Pam and me and we headed into transition. Bottles. Check. Body marking. Check. Pump up tires. Check. Everything was set to go. No pre-race jitters. Just set to have a good day.

The swim was a rougher than I recall from two years ago. I swam rather wide for my first loop. I got kicked in the chin, which stung a tiny bit, but I was still surprised to see an irritated scrape on my face from it when I looked in the mirror later. Between loops, I took a Gu, smiled for the cameras, and embarked on my second loop. I stayed on the buoy line for most of the second loop. My swim time was 1:25, a minute faster than from 2 years ago, surprising as I'm a much stronger swimmer now.

It was not raining pre-race, but I felt the raindrops pelting my arms while I was swimming. The rain did not stop for 12+ hours.

Heading out on my bike, the rain began to negatively affect me early on. Am I not mentally strong enough for this? Ironically, dealing with the rain helped me turn my focus and I was not thinking about my ailing knee for some time. I struggled mentally throughout the ride. And my knee began to haunt me. There were times that it hurt so badly on a climb, I just yelped.

I am not quite sure why I elected to press on. Early on in my second loop I knew my chances of making the bike cutoff were uncertain. I averaged 13.5 mph on my first loop and I was getting slower. The knee pain was increasing. Quite honestly, there were times where I could not help but cry. In addition, my brakes seemed to get clogged with grit from the road and were rubbing against my wheels. I pulled over 3 or 4 times to examine my bike. So much of me wanted to quit. But for reasons I cannot explain, I pressed on.

When I approached the out-and-back from Wilmington to Black Brook and back (mile 80 or so), Team Z had a cheering station set up. How easy it would be to drop out. I could hop into one of their cars, get out of the rain, and get into dry clothes. But I didn't.

When I emerged from the out-and-back, I was the last Team Z racer, and the cheering there was infectious. I knew I only had 1 hour, 15 minutes to bike cutoff. However, I wondered if I could make a miracle happen and make bike cutoff. My knee pain seemed to temporarily subside to a dull ache. Could I do it?

On the hill affectionately known as Mama Bear (heading into town one hits the Cherry Patch and the Three Bears), about mile 108, I met my doom. I was near two other cyclists at the time. The race director advised us we missed bike cutoff and we could either elect to finish the loop unofficially, or he could take our bikes and deliver us to transition. I selected the later, mostly because I had been shivering from the cold rain and decided it was pointless to hurt my knee anymore and climb Papa Bear. Besides, Jill, from Team Z, was a few cars behind and told the race director she wanted to pick me up.

Jill dropped me off at transition.

I had mixed feelings upon arrival. Part of me felt like I have nothing to prove; I already am an Ironman finisher. But there was a part of me that felt like a failure. I decided to try and keep my spirits up. How many other people can say that they toed the line, and swam 2.4 miles and biked 108 miles in the pouring rain? Casey asked me if I had made the bike cutoff, would I have been able to run? Probably not. After all, I could barely walk the next day (and would still be limping for a week or so later).

Many people at the Team Z tent were fabulous. Helen had my dry clothes. However, she thought I was out on the run course as she saw my bike in transition and she did not have her cell phone with her due to the rain. In the meantime, Mrs. Durst, Victoria, and Emily were wonderful help to get me into some borrowed dry clothes. Mr. & Mrs. Durst cranked up the coffee maker, just for me. Sarah made sure I got a burger. Iwon simply made me laugh and look at the bright side. Robin gave me a blanket. And EB made it a personal mission to find Helen. From there on out, Helen took amazing care of me.

It was a tough day for many of us. Eight of us from my triathlon team did not finish. Nevertheless, we had the courage to start.

Congratulations to all of us. Those that started, those that finished, and those that had the strength of character just to stand in the rain all day and cheer their hearts out for us.

A Little R & R in Lake Placid

Today was an opportunity for some rest and relaxation. I wanted to avoid all the hype of Lake Placid and step away from Ironman stressors for a bit.

Besides, as many times as I have ventured up here, I figured it would be nice to see some of the sights other than the Ironman course.

Our original plan was to take the gondola ride to the top of Little Whiteface Mountain, an area popular for skiing in the winter, and mountain biking in the summer. We arrived, and saw a few mountain bikers prepping for a day of fun. We were disappointed to discover, however, that there was an unknown wait to take a ride on the gondola due to thunderstorms in the area. (We had heard the thunder all morning and had occasional spots of rain.)

Hmmm... so let's go to Plan B and take the Veteran's Memorial Highway and drive to the top of Whiteface Mountain. We drove up 3 miles of the highway to the toll booth and were told it was a $14 fee and 0 visibility at the top. Well, no use in venturing any further.

So, Plan C was put into action. Let's visit the High Falls Gorge. The Ironman bike course passes by the entry to the gorge. As many times as I've been past it, I thought it was time to actually see what was back there. We were rewarded with 700 ft of waterfalls.

Tonight is dinner with Carol and Carrie: make your own pasta night!

I've got my race bags ready and tomorrow it's time to check all my gear in. Get ready!

#2147 is in Lake Placid

Yahoo! After driving nearly 600 miles, I am here in Lake Placid and ready to do my second Ironman. I drove up with Helen on Wednesday. It was essentially a non-eventful drive, which is a good thing, but my car hit 100,000 miles shortly after we got into the Adirondack Region, so I take that as a good sign of things to come this weekend.

This morning we went for a swim in Mirror Lake. The water was fabulous. I swam the 1.2 mile loop (the race does 2 of those) at a relaxed pace.

Afterwards included all the pre-race logistics... check-in, hitting the Ironman expo, and whatnot. I'm just glad to have all that stuff knocked out so I can relax on Friday.

And naturally, we just had to hit the shops along Main Street!

A Tour of the Ironman Bike Leg

Here's a fun video of the 10K decent into Keene early on in the bike loop. (Course is two loops).



Here's a video highlighting the entire bike course, but there's no music and the video is over 15 minutes long.... a little boring to watch.

The Countdown is On!

I leave one week from today on my Ironman Lake Placid 'vacation'. I'm looking forward to the trip. Helen and I have plans for some fun low key activities around town... and I'll just happen to throw an Ironman triathlon in there!

Here's a YouTube video from the swim start from 2006. I'm in the water there somewhere. I didn't know it was pouring rain while we were in the swim until I heard about it later.

Skyline Drive- Visit #3 of 3

I was hoping for the third visit to Skyline Drive this season, that the weather would play in our favor. Trip #1: Sleet and hail. Trip #2: Thick fog and rain. And as it would play out, trip #3 had fog as well. Many of us came ill-prepared without lights. As a result, the park ranger would not let as pass any further than Dickey's Ridge, at mile marker 5. It turned out to be a moot issue for me. Due to my knee woes, I knew climbing hills on Skyline Drive would be sort of touch-and-go. Not wanting to press my luck, I elected to descend and call it a day after reaching Dickey's Ridge. Everyone else descended with me, but they all repeated the climb up to Dickey's Ridge two more times. My maximum speed descending was over 36 mph... a little weak.

Because I carpooled out to the ride with Pam, I needed to occupy myself for two hours to await her return. Conveniently, a coffee shop was open near our cars. A chance to drink coffee and read the Sunday newspaper like normal people do! Now, the challenge was, finding the Sunday newspaper. Neither the coffee shop nor the nearby grocery store had the Sunday paper. I found the Northern Virginia paper from yesterday. (Uh... Washington Post please.) I wound up settling on this Warren County weekly paper. The front page news announced Miss Warren County and also showed someone's Independence Day Tree. (Turns out the guy doesn't have the heart to ever break down his Christmas Tree and just instead rotates the decorations depending on the season.) Weak. I elected to roam the nearby bookstore instead. Sadly, although not surprising, the bookstore is going out of business and one can purchase the store, the books, the computers, and the bookshelves for the bargain price of $50K. I felt compelled to try and help and bought a book I've been eyeing for a while, Three Cups of Tea. It was on the NY Bestseller list. It's the true story about a man who, after a failed attempt to summit K2 and still in Pakistan, decided to help and begin to build schools. He's built 51 or so schools there since then. Inspiring.

Needless to say, although it was somewhat disappointing to not ride more on Skyline Drive, I adhered to my top priority at this point, to help heal my knee. Besides, it was nice to have the chance to enjoy a Sunday for once and relax. So, perhaps the need to cut the ride short was a blessing in disguise?

No Running Until Ironman

UG! So, my knee gave way at mile 17.5 of my long run a couple weeks ago. I've had knee problems for several years now, and for the most part, I manage to keep problems in check.

I have had no sharp pains since then, but a persistant dull ache in my right knee, my problematic knee.

As a result, it was time to see my favorite PT, Kerri. I was Kerri's first Team Z patient a couple years back, but I have not needed to see her in a while. Would you believe she's had 80 Team Z patients?! She is a miracle worker.

Needless to say, my IT band and such on my outer right leg is really tight, pulling my knee cap over. Kerri has me doing some stretches, self-massage (including the foam roller- ug!), and core work. And no running until the race. Missing running is no big deal, as I already have the mileage in me. Ideally, I'd be running, but healing is more important at this point.