Ironman Lake Placid Race Report

I'm not going to get too much into how I got here or even why I'm doing this. I'm not even sure as to the why. One day I decided to go on a journey, just to see where it would take me..
Pre Pre Race
I can honestly look myself in the mirror and say I followed my training regime perfectly. I did not miss one training session in the last 6 months - it went perfect. Total swimming kms:185.2. Total biking kms: 3250k. Spinning hours: 57.5. Running kms: 1370.5. I did interval work, hill training, stretching, situps & pushups. I totally nailed my training and was very pleased.
Goals
This is rather tough to talk about because I'm doing this post race. But it's still interesting in a morbid sort of way. :) By nature, I can be intense. I set realistic difficult goals for myself - and set out to attain them. "Know yourself" is one of my personal mantras and it's a great gift to look at yourself with objective eyes. To look at the good, to fix the not-so-good, it's all about self discovery; and it can be kinda cool.
Enough of the philosophy, here is the meat and potatoes. My goals for my first IM were initially quite fluid, but as the months went by I started to zone in on the following:A++ goal - this would have to be a personal perfect race. Sub 10hrs. I knew this was not a realistic goal and I perhaps had a 5% chance of attaining it.
'A' goal - sub 10:30. This was the target. I know myself and this was going to be my 'realistic difficult' goal.
'A -' goal. sub 11:00. If external issues were going to be a factor, I still wanted to finish sub 11.
'B' goal. Finish.Pre Race
I had a text book taper, things were shaping up great! I was able to stay relaxed and focused. My wife and I stayed in a town just outside Lake Placid. I defineately wanted to stay away from the crowds and excitement. We arrived on Friday afternoon, quickly checked into our little cabin in Saranac Lake, went to Lake Placid, registered, did a quick tour of the expo and wasback in our cabin in no time flat. I did a nice short run, ate dinner and was in bed by 9 On Saturday, I was up at 4am. I conditioned myself to wake up nice and early for the entire week before the race. Just trying to cover every angle. I went for a totally mint morning ride - just to stay loose and focused. A beautiful morning jaunt in the Adirondacks, morning sun, a slight mist coming off the lakes, no traffic - in a word, awesome. I stopped at one point, thanked nature for the show and did nice and easy spin back to the cabin. Oh man, what a great way to start the day. I was ridin high and lovin it! The rest of the day consisted of getting setup for Sunday, athletes meeting, snackin and hydrating.
Okie dokey.. moving right along..Race PlanPretty basic really. I knew the battle was going to be primarily mental. So to prepare myself, I was to keep in the mind frame of: "this is just a long training day". Key words were "relax, take it easy and stay focused." Swim plan: sub 1hr. Bike plan: take first loop SLOW. Try to even split the 2nd loop. Bike goal: sub 5:30. Run: nice and steady. sub 4hrs. Total: < 10:30.
Race Day
Some of the following may not be suitable for all audiences. Parental discretion is advised.3:30am. Awake and feeling good. Can't believe it's finally here. I can honestly say, I have thought about this race every single day from the moment I signed up 364 days earlier. This is it. Let's get er done.Went through my pre race routine. Stretched a bit, I was loose and relaxed. Felt great. Sally and I arrived in Lake Placid at 5:30am, I got body marked, checked my bike, double checked my transition bags and then dropped off my special needs bags. We were at the swim start just after 6am. Lots of time to get ready and watch the women pro start. IMLP was showcasing the pro women and it was really cool these incredible athletes in the spotlight.My personal war, yes I did say war, begins at 7am. I didn't know I was in for a war, but in hindsight the word 'war' is about the best synonym I could come up with. A total of 5 battles took place. The first battle was the swim...
The swim.
Whoa. Just under 2000 wetsuits. I said to myself "Jeez I'm glad I'm confident in the water because if I wasn't, this would freak me the hell out." I placed myself very close to the front and everyone kinda tread water while waiting for the start. 7am. BOOM. The cannon went off and we were officially underway. Yup, it was just like being thrown into a washing machine. Luckily, I can swim well and within the first 500m I tucked in behind the lead crew and followed a nice pair feet for the rest of the swim. It felt great. I have a nice slow turnover and did not feel winded at all. My time for the swim was 52:51. Perhaps a little fast, but I attributed the extra speed to the course and the drafting behind the lead crew.I didn't even know it, but I had won the first battle of the war. Darren 1 IMLP 0
T1 (Transition 1)
Take it easy. If you have to take an extra minute or two it's no biggie.. it's gonna be a long day and 2 minutes is not going to make a difference. And so I did. I talked to a race official.. just wanted to make sure my rental wetsuit was going to end up in the right place! I went for a pee. Then jogged to the bike rack area. This part was cool. They had people yelling your race number, then a volunteer would unrack your bike andbring it the end of the row. Your bike is all ready for you and you just run by grab your bike and get on your way. Very professional. T1 time was 5:23.
The bike.
180km is a ridiculas amount of cycling in my opinion. :) The course consists of two 90k loops. So I mentally broke this down as an easy 90k ride, followed by a hard 90k ride. I repeated my mantras of relax and take it easy and by josh it was working! I was easy spinning. I wasn't even breathing hard. I took some time, enjoyed the awesome scenery, it felt great! Bike split was about 2:40. Right on target. If my plan works out, I'll be slighty ahead of my 5:30 goal. I was in the zone and lovin it! Once again, I had won a battle I didn't even know I fought. Darren 2 IMLP 0.
2nd loop.
Things start to get a little wonky shortly after the 90k mark. My body is telling me stuff and I'm just not understanding. I have headache and my stomach is grumbling. I immediately back off the intensity - even though I didn't think I was going that hard to begin with. I go to drinking pure water, thinking that it will dilute the calories in my gut and make them more easily absorbed. I think to myself - ok this nothing major, just a minor hiccup, I'll get my stomach settled and we can move on.I descend into Keane without taking one peddle stroke. For those that don't know, the Keane descent is a legendary part of the course where you can easily hit 75k/hr. I'm about 1 hr into the 2nd loop and not really fairing any better, actually having some minor dizziness, which is a littledisoncerting when your biking. Headache goes from throbbing to a dull pain. I'm in a constant state of nausea. I start to think' just finish the bike.' From this point on my memory gets a little fuzzy. I remember things like: "dude, you are already operating at a caloric/ hydration defecit, there is NO way you'll be able to do the marathon." I remember feeling quite dizzy and telling myself it's time to quit. I think if I saw a race official I would have withdrawn from the race. I remember the mind games, things like: well, you are missing all your time goals, why bother going on? I really, really, REALLY wanted to quit. I did have the presence of mind to keep drinking water, in the hopes that maybe half of what I was drinking would get absorbed. I don'treally recall the last 30k. 2nd loop was about 3:10. I remember being angry at this - just because it was well below my capability. But I also remember thinking 3:10? I would have sworn it was 4:30! My sense of time was messed up.Yup, I was in a war now and it was going to be a doozy. Darren 2 IMLP 1
T2 (transition 2)
I make it to the tent and sit down. Lot's of action and excitement all around me, but I don't care. I gotta take stock of the situation and regroup. A volunteer comes over and asks how I'm doing, to which I reply, "not so good."He says, "here have some pretzels." I find this quite funny. So, I'm sitting there trying to eat a pretzel - ever try to eat a pretzel when your mouth is already pasty? Anyway, I know I'm low on fluids and salt, because I was unable to injest a damn thing for the entire 2nd loop of the bike. I have to get the contents in my stomach moving. Hmm... walking stimulates the digestion, let's go for walk. T2 time was around 6min.
The Run 1st loop
Oh my god. I'm walking and actually feeling better! YAY! The crowds are going mental - what a tremendous psychological boost. This actually isn't so bad. Maybe, just maybe I can run.... and so I run. I immediately settle into my comfortable runpace. I walk the aid stations, consume water along with the gels I'm carrying. I'm still having stomach problems, but it's not nearly as bad as it was before. I'm walking the hills, walking the aid the stations and running in between. Jeez, I just may be able to salvage my sub 11 hr goal!! The miles start going by, I start slowing down noticeably around mile 9/10. My stomach was the primary reason. Finally reach the halfway mark of the marathon. I'm in bad shape, but not ridiculasly so. My split was just under 2 hrs - which I was moderately happy with considering I felt like shit. Ok, I won that round. Darren 3, IMLP 1
2nd loop of the run
Ok. Now I'm playing "just gotta make it to the next aid station game". Stomach and headache issues are coming back with a vengenence. I'm in a constant state of mild dizziness. Absolutely nothing I injest at the aid the stations is helping. I think maybe I should go make myself be sick, but I'm reluctant to do this - just because then I'll have absolutely nothing in my gut to get absorbed. I figured as long as liquid is my stomach maybe some portion of it is getting absorbed. I soldier on. Mile 17/18. BAM. Ok, this is bad. Very dizzy now. I really wanna close my eyes and go sit down. But I don't. I'm walking and thinking left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot and being thankful that there is a white line on the road that I can follow.I'm swerving a bit, but really concentrating on just walking straight - so I don't think the swerving is too bad. I do recall thinking, "if I see a race official now, I'm quitting." Darren 3, IMLP 2
Mile 22. Just walked the last 4/5 miles and that's it; my tummy finally blew it's load. Only had two thoughts at this point: 1) Jesus Christ, I remember that orange piece from the first aid station! and 2) I'm so glad this didn't happen in town!
I'm in rough shape, mainly due to the lack of fluids/calories, but I'm only 4 miles from the finish line. Quitting was not option.Getting sick makes me feel better, but now I'm know I'm dangerously low on water and salt. So I'm drinking, water and chicken broth at the remaining aid stations and starting to feel a little bit better! I end up running the last couple of miles, mostly because I did not want to be on the course any longer and running is faster than walking. :) Split for the 2nd loop was something like 2:50.
The Finish
The crowd. The announcer. Excitement was in the air. It was like someone stuck a needle of adrenalin in my arm. I flew to the finish line. I don't how/why or where that surge came from - but I won't forget it. I won the war.
Total time: 11:45
Post RaceI will say one thing.. this is probably the most unhealthiest way to lose almost 20 pounds! Even in hindsight, I'm not sure I would have done anything different. Even the best laid plans can be fubar'd by circumstances beyond your control. I'd like to do an Iron distance race without stomach issues, so currently, I'm thinking about giving IM Penticton a shot. Will I do IMLP again? Perhaps. That course owes me and I want payback. I still have much to learn.The journey continues..