Ironman USA July 26, 2009

Bryan, Willem and I arranged for a condo in town last year when we all signed up for Ironman. Lynne and I arrived in Lake Placid on Tuesday. Bryan and Willem on Wednesday. Kathryn and Steve joined us on Wednesday also, but they didn’t arrive until late in the evening. We all had a blast!

We’d joined up with Linda, Kathie, Miles and John for dinner at their cottage on Wednesday night. Swam Thursday morning (and collected our free Gatorade water bottles). We pretty much hung out checking the weather every 10 minutes until race day morning.

We’d all taken our bikes over and checked them in on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night, Bryan, Willem and I sat around the dining room table trying to figure out how to repair a broken chain. (apparently, it can’t be done!) Sunday morning we were up at 4:00, eat breakfast, checked the bags one more time and headed over to body marking at 5:00. We got split up at that point. Everyone was nervous, tired and excited. I walked my special needs bags up to the drop off, came back and got my wetsuit on and headed over to the water. I found David and his wife and Steven under a tree trying to stay dry. It had started raining about 6:30. I saw Simon, Bern Steve and Sid on my way to the water. I saw Gavin for a minute and then finally found Michelle and Lynne just before I got into the water.

I warmed up for a little bit just after the pro’s left at 6:50 and then found Bryan about 6:57. We got ourselves lined up right behind the line of buoys, about 25 feet back from the front of the line. The cannon went and we were off. I think we crossed the line within 20 – 30 seconds. It was a huge fight all the way to the far buoy, about 900 meters I think. I kept looking up for clear water, dodging behind folks to try to get to it, but it would be packed each time I got there. Yup – like swimming in a washing machine. Kicked, punched, rolled over, dragged down, did I mention punched? I got hit in the head so many times I thought I was going to look like Rocky when I finished. Someone almost knocked my goggles off. I’m glad I had the strap under my swim cap. By the first turn things had started to clear up a bit, but of course everyone converges at that corner so, the fight was back on. The 100 – 150 meters or so at the turn around at the far end of the lake was still a fight, but not too bad. At the next turn, now heading back to the beach again, I went inside the line and found clear water there. The swim back to the line from there on went pretty smoothly. I’d swam that course in 37 minutes a few times in training, but the clock showed 39:46 when I hit the shore and started the 2nd loop. I figured I’d lost time fighting the crowd and the slow start, so I wasn’t too worried. I was hoping to knock some time off of my last race, but, overall, a few minutes in the lake doesn’t make that much difference by the end of the day! The second loop went better. I felt more relaxed and for the most part, was able to follow that line 5 feet below the water that stretches from buoy to buoy around the course. I finished that lap in 39:14 – a 32 second negative split. I think that’s my first negative split ever! My final swim time was 1:19:00 – 2:08 better than last time!

I tore up and out of the water, over to the peelers who ripped my wetsuit off for me and headed up and around over to the transition area. I saw Mike Dunbar on the rail at one point cheering for me, and then Lynne, Michelle and Gavin a little further along. I was confused when I got into T1 where I was to pickup my bike bag. I grabbed the bag and continued on and into the far end of the men’s change tent. I found a chair and sat down a took a breath for a5-6 seconds before I started on opening the bag. There was a knot in the strings. I struggled with that for a bit then decided to rip the bag open. As soon as I started to do that, and saw the bike helmet inside, and realized “that’s not my helmet”., I figured out that I’d grabbed the wrong bag. I had to run back to change it. Luckily the guy who owned that bag wasn’t there yet. All I could think of was what it would have been like for this poor guy to finish his swim and then find his bike stuff missing!

I grabbed my bag, got back to the tent, got dried off, changed and ran out as quickly as I could. So much for the time I’d saved in the swim! T1 took me 12:19. Not a good time, but better than the 13:16 I’d done a couple of years earlier!

One of the fabulous volunteers passed my bike to me as I got to the bike racks. I ran up to the mount line and headed out. I didn’t see anyone I knew as I headed out on the bike course. I tore down those first few blocks and headed out of town. The first 10k or so seem to be a slight uphill grind. I watched my powertap and didn’t worry about all the folks passing me. I finally got to that hill into the town of Keene. 9k of downhill sweeping though the woods. I love that hill. It makes all the pain from the rest of the day, and the years of training before that, worthwhile. There ended up being four of us in a group blasting down that hill. I had to feather the break a couple of times for fear of hitting one or another of them It’d great when you pass about the 50 kph mark and there is no point in peddling anymore. I put my head down so that it was just a touch off the bike stem, blinked hard to try to push the tears out of my eyes that the wind was causing and hung on for dear life as the bike shakes to the point I worry that it’s just going to break apart. Down and around all the curves in the road, flying through the forest on either side, streaking past some poor sap who is doing this for the first time and has braked for fear of dying by skidding off the road. The four of us, whoever they were, stuck pretty close all the way down, hooting and hollering like drunken cowboys. It was GREAT. I think I cruised most of that ride at about 67 – 68 kph. For me, that ride is always the same at the bottom. A smile from ear to ear, ears full of water that the wind pushed around your head, and then finally relaxing my butt, being somewhat surprised at how hard I’d squeezed my ass cheeks together, happy to find that I am able to get the bike seat back out of there!

The four of us that had gone down together were cheering and yelling still as we turned the corner out of Keen and on our way to Jay. I guess we absentmindedly had grouped ourselves together and were blocking the road. Someone passed and yelled over that we shouldn’t be blocking. I looked over to yell back, and saw that it was Simon. I sped away from the gang I was with to catch up to him. When I got to him I called over and said if you’re going to yell at me, you could at least use my name. We both laughed and rode off together for a bit. Luckily for me, Simon was sticking to a lower zone than usual, so I was able to keep up for a bit. We chatted a bit. He told me he’d finished his second bottle of water already. I was only half way through my first bottle. I knew I’d blown the nutrition stuff on the bike 2 years earlier doing this race, so I picked up the drinking pace from that point on. 2 years ago I think I only drank 2 bottle on each loop on the bike. I got all 4 back each loop this time. Eventually I dropped back and watched Simon head out over the horizon. I can’t remember the order in which everyone passed me, but slowly but surely, Sid, Steve, Bern and Kathie all passed me. I saw Bryan and then Willem heading out from the out and back as I was heading in. It was nice now that I had a perspective on where just about everyone was on the course. The out and back, just like the hill into Keene had been freshly paved a few weeks before the race. We flew through there. I was a bit disappointed to see that the folks in Hazelton hadn’t decorated the town the way they had before when we turned, but they were out cheering in full force, which was the most important thing.

Out of the Out and Back, past the gorge, up the 2 Cherry’s and the 3 Bear hills and I was back in town again. I stopped at special needs and swapped out my 4 empty bottles of E-Load and Fly for 4 new ones and headed on out again. I saw Michele and Gavin and then Lynne John and Joni in front of our condo just past Station Street. I stopped to hug Lynne and say a quick hello of Joni and John. My foot hit a water bottle as I got off the bike but I didn’t pay any attention to it. I was off again quickly and heading out of town again for the second 90k loop. I’d done the first loop in 3:29:00 – 1 minute quicker than I was shooting for.

The second loop on the bike is the worst part of the race for me. It’s noon. The rain had poured down during the swim, but stopped when we got out. The clouds blocked the sun for most of the morning but by noon the sun was beating down. I knew my shoulders, neck and back were getting burned. Another grind out of town and then a great run down into Keene. I was on my own this time and I peddled as quickly as I could for as long as it did any good and then hunched down as low as I could get. I was on my own, so I didn’t have to worry about anyone else on the road. 73.3 turned out to be my high speed going down this time. Gosh I LOVE that hill!! Most of the rest of ride was uneventful. I got to the out and back with is about half way around the course and reached back for my third water bottle only to find it wasn’t there. I had no idea until after the race that I’d knocked it off the bike when I stopped to see Lynne. Someone gave it to Lynne after I’d headed out and said they saw me knock it off. It would have been nice if they’d have hollered at the time. I was now 2 hours out and had enough water for 1 hour. I picked up water at the next station and switched to one swallow of regular water and then a swig from my remaining E-Load / Fly mix. It got me through OK. The out and back went quickly and it was around there that I realized I’d slowed down. Linda passed me. I caught up for a bit, but didn’t have the energy to keep with her. She pulled away oh so slowly, but very steadily! I was tired of doing this. I was hot and my legs, feet and back were hurting. I was cognizant that this would be the last time I’d ever be on these roads. That thought allowed me to pick it up a bit anyway. The hills into town felt longer and steeper again, but I was used to that feeling. Riding through town is great because of the cheering crowds, but looking at all the runners who were finishing their first loop was a bit of a downer for me.

I blasted through town and into T2. My total bike time was 7:19:43. I’d been hoping for 7:00:00. I was 9 minutes quicker than in 2007. Someone took my bike. I grabbed my bag, the right one this time, and headed into the tent to get changed again. I took a couple of minutes to cool down. I know I hadn’t wanted to do that from the onset, but at this point in the day, I didn’t care anymore. I got changed slowly and checked on the guy in the chair beside me. He hadn’t moved a muscle all the time I’d been there. When I spoke to him, he started to tell me that he’d be throwing up for a while, but jumped up and just got out of the door at the other side of me as he tossed his cookies again! I felt bad for him, but realized although I was tired and a bit unmotivated to get going, I could have been in a lot worse shape!

As I headed out to start the 26.2 mile marathon, I heard the announcer talking about Tereza and the fact that she was down to the last could of k of the run and she was the first place women. Tereza is our assistant swim coach. I’ve gone to a few of her 3 on one training classes also. She’s an amazing swimmer, a great coach, and a ton of fun.

I saw Lynne, Joni and John again on my way out on the run. I was carrying my Nathan belt with 4 bottles of E-Load and Fly mix along with a half dozen or so Gu gels. I ran all of the first loop except for the three hills coming back into town. I kept wanting to stop and walk, but I kept repeating to myself that my’ slowest run is quicker than my fastest walk” . I also pretended that I wasn’t running a marathon after a 180k bike ride after a 3.8k swim, I was just out running a long slow run like Nadia and I did so often on a Sunday morning. We’d go out for hours at a nice slow pace, just filling in the time, not worrying about speed, or pace or anything. Somehow, those two thought made the run easier. Manageable anyway! I finished the first half in 2:43:07.

When I headed out for the second half, Lynne told me that Derek was just a bit ahead and he was walking. He’d blasted past me on the bike. At this point in the day, I thought I’d just keep joggling slowly until I caught him and then walk in to the finish with him. I wasn’t going to get my sub 14 hours (I never really thought I would, but it made for a good goal!) . Away I went again. I found myself walking on most of the up hills, regardless of size on this leg. I’d catch myself and push on through, but I knew I was losing time and ground from my first loop. It was late. The sun was going down. I didn’t really care. I fought to care, but it felt like I was losing the fight. I couldn’t find Derek. I thought that Lynne isn’t very experienced and when she told me he was just a ‘little’ ahead, she may not have realized that 15minutes or so isn’t a ‘little’! Our I went past the out and back turn. I saw Kathryn, Derek’s wife. She came over to me all sort of bent, but I thought she was fooling around. I gave her a quick hug and away we went. I didn’t know that she was moments away from being pulled off the course and rushed to the medical tent because of nausea and dehydration. Poor Kathryn was sick, and I was stupid!

A few minutes later I saw Derek, running towards the turn I was at about 10 minutes earlier. We figured later that he must have been in a port-a-potty when I passed him. I stuck two those two thoughts and played a bit with catching up to some guys who were walking, walking with them for a minute and then switching to slow and easy jog and was always amazed at how quickly I’d pull away from them. Back into town I was getting encouraged by the number of folks who leaned over to tell me they thought I had a great pace. I started to think maybe I did have a good pace. I was passing a lot of walkers anyway. Into the center of town, around the corner to the final out and back. One more Gu, one more bit of water and I could feel myself pick up the pace all the way out and still all the way back in. Finally I was back in the oval. I saw Michelle as I rounded the last corner and could see the finish line. I could see the time was just a few seconds past 14:29:00. The thought of breaking 14:30 gave me an extra little boost in speed. I tossed my hat high in the air and ran with all I had left. I heard my name called again. I think we’ll all remember the sound of hearing your name and “You are an Ironman” until the day we die. I’d finished the second loop of the run in 2:43:16 – only 9 seconds longer than the first loop. My total time was 14:29:46 – 38 minutes quicker than 2007.