Sunday, July 31, 2016

Ironman Lake Placid - Worth Every Dollar (And There Were Many Dollars Spent)


"Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
 Try to make ends meet
 Try to find some money then you die
 I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
 You know the one that takes you to the places
 Where all the things meet yeah"
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve

Let me first say, if you ever plan to race Ironman Lake Placid, put more money away than you think you will need to make the trip very feasible. It was well worth it but it is an expensive trip & I am not talking about the entry fee alone. In all, if I were to sit down & calculate expenses for the trip (counting entry fee), it will be close to $2000+ for a four night stay & race but it was worth every penny!

When I returned to triathlons 4 years ago, I can say, I doubted whether or not I would return to the Ironman distance. I have competed at the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in 1995 & 97 with one finish of 10:33 in 1995 & a DNF in 1997. While I tried to convince myself over the years, I always knew I was not fine with DNF in 1997 & I did have to eventually return to 140.6. At the time of my return to triathlons, there were still a few 70.3 triathlons that you could qualify for Kona & I honestly believed that would be the only way I would return the the 140.6 distance & Kona. But shortly after my return to triathlons, Ironman changed that & the only real way to qualify was at a 140.6.

Fuck, what the hell were they thinking!?!?!?

Could I handle the possibility of 2 Ironman distance races in one year?

At the same time, I was thinking that I can't let my last 140.6 (regardless of race) be a DNF. So after some coaxing, I registered for Ironman Lake Placid. Here is my race report:

Ironman Lake Placid

Swim
The swim is two times around a 1.2 mile loop in Mirror Lake. After the first loop, you exit the lake & run about 15-20 yards on the beach & return to the water for loop 2. Unlike almost every triathlon I have competed, the swim is not set up in waves by age group. It is self seeding with corals similar to some of the major marathons. The corals were set up in 10 minute increments. Feeling realistic about my swim, I positioned myself in the 1:01-1:10 group. The first loop was quite chaotic & crowded and it seemed impossible to get a steady rhythm going until I turned the 2nd red buoy to return to the swim start. Even though I expected to see a slower time, I exited the 1st loop at 34:24, so all is not lost yet. The 2nd loop felt much easier as the crowds had thinned a little. It was easy to get a good rhythm and maintain it for the entire loop. The time for my 2nd loop was 34:36, so I pretty much even split the swim. While not as fast as I had hope, I was on land so the real race can begin!

T1 - 6:24

Bike
As expected, the 112 mile bike course is the toughest bike course I have tackled in a race. Over the two loops, each competitor was challenged by 6000+ feet of climbing! As challenging as the course sounds, I will admit....I LOVED IT!!! Exiting T1, after that slow swim, I knew it was time to fly! I quickly got a good rhythm on downhill out of transition & carried the momentum into the climb out of Lake Placid. Quickly, I started passing competitors & never looked back. So many times on the climb, I wanted to tell some of the competitors it is much easier to climb out of the aerodynamic tuck! It boggles my mind that triathletes continue to attempt to grind up a hill in the tuck! Sometimes it took a lot of restraint to not snicker as I went by them. After the climb, there was a fun & fast descent into Keene where I topped out at 45 mph! With a little more mass, I think I could have easily topped 50mph but I will trade that mass for the killing the climbs & dropping the other riders. The middle portion of the loop was flat to gradual grade climbs. The final 13-15 miles of each loop were the toughest as you headed back into Lake Placid. On the return, you had to tackle the 3 Bears which was a combined 3 climbs over 2.2 miles. After all was said & done, I covered the 112 miles in 5:24:28/ 20.71mph , moving from 430th  to 79th overall. I crushed that course!

T2 - 4:57

Run 
Entering T2, my body felt very nourished & hydrated but in the back of my mind I was thinking about how the legs will respond to the climbing of the bike course. The 2 loop run course would add another 1,184 feet of climbing to the day.  My plan for the run was simple, keep heart rate between 148-155. The exit out of T2 & onto the course is a downhill out of town leading you to the early climbs. The legs loosened up very quickly over the first few miles of the run. I settled into a good heart rate & was taking on fluids at each aid station. I started the run with 4 gels attached to my belt with plans to take them at certain parts as practiced in my training. Leading up to an aid station near mile six, I took my first gel out of my belt & water at the aid station. Over the next few miles everything seemed to be rolling along until when I reached for the next planned gel in between aid stations........When I reached for the gel, I realized that at some point between mile 6 & mile 10 all of gels had fallen out of my belt & I still had another mile + till the next aid station. I did not panic as I thought it really was not that far till the aid station. Once I got to the next aid station, I made a point to walk through & attempt to play catch up on the nutrition. I was able to hold things together through the 1st loop with the only minimal walking at aid stations only. The 2nd loop was not as pretty as the first. Miles 13-18 were a combined run/walk but was still holding 9:15-20 per mile. Playing catch-up was not working & miles 19-24 was where the death march was in full effect! Regardless, throughout this stretch, one thing was for certain......finish & hear the call "You are an Ironman"! During this stretch, there was more walking than running but there were a lot of people doing the same but I kept telling myself.....Death before DNF!!! Watching others do all they can to finish kept me motivated to achieve the ultimate goal of finishing. Around mile 24, my body started to feel better & I was able to run the remainder of the course. In all, the combo run/death march took 4:11:44 dropping me 148th overall of the 2700 competitors who started.

Overall 10:56:36 -148 of 2700 competitors

I will admit that I am very hard on myself about my results even when most people think what I accomplished was good. At the same time, while results were not perfect, I am very happy with my  result from Ironman Lake Placid. First, I accomplished the ultimate goal of finishing a 140.6 distance race after years of never thinking I would tackle that distance again & erasing the DNF,in my mind, from 1997. Something even bigger for me was the ability to adjust goals throughout the race & not give up because it was not the perfect race. To many people gave me their utmost support & well wishes to give up because it was not the perfect day. And if you really think about it, a race of this nature, how often will you have that perfect race. I can also say that even without the issues on the run, I was not going to qualify for Kona on this day as the top 3 competitors in my age group broke 10 hours...WOW!!!

What's next?

The remainder of this season will be filled with 4-6 sprint or olympic distance races. So far this season, I have only raced twice & I am itching to race. I may potentially race a sprint this weekend & the next. Obviously the training volume will be reduced & workouts will be  at a minimum until 100% but this past week my legs seemed to return to normal a little each day. Over these next two weeks, the sprint races will be considered my workouts.

My focus for 2017 will be on the 70.3 distance & qualifying for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, which are returning to the US in 2017. At this point, my plan is to return to the 140.6 distance in 2018. One I need to save up money for it & secondly, at my age, not sure I want to be putting my body through this every year!

Major 70.3's for 2017 are yet to be determined at this point..........

Stay tuned.......


"I am an Ironman" (Again)

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Race Week Is Here! Trust In The Process.




"Where is my mind
 Where is my mind
 Where is my mind
 Way out in the water
 See it swimmin' "

Where is my mind? Placebo cover of Pixies

Well, here it is.....5 days until Ironman Lake Placid!

Hay is in the barn!

Taper is in full swing!

And in typical triathlete panic mode thinking.......I look back on my training and think.....

Should I have gone gluten free or even paleo...can't decide!
Should I have given up sweets!
Should I have given up soda!
Should I have given alcohol!
Should I have given up coffee sooner!

OK.......Now you know I was being sarcastic when I mentioned coffee! Plus the "no more alcohol" would have to start after I finish the beer in my hand (original draft written last night!). Plus I am not sure how safe it would be for all I know if I were to cut coffee and beer completely! 

Going into the final 7 days, I feel confident in my training, especially the final 7 weeks of Ironman training. After what I feel was an up and down first 7-8 weeks of 2016, the final 18 weeks of training leading up to Ironman Lake Placid has been my best stretch of training since my return to triathlons 4 years ago. More than ever I followed the mantra of training smarter not harder and many might think I am under-trained or under-raced going into this week.  

My longest workouts in each discipline have been: 3500 yard swim/ 95 mile bikes (22.2mph - 2198 ft of climbing)/ 20 mile run (8:00 per mile). Aside for the swim, I practiced proper nutrition during the the long bike and run as from experience, nutrition is the key at event that will be as long as an Ironman. For example, my 20 mile run was set so I completed 1 loop three times. As I began each successive loop, I would grab a water bottle with a Cliff Gel (course nutrition) taped to it at to ensure my stomach could tolerate the gel while running. While biking, my Garmin is set to beep every 5 miles signaling it is time to consume! 

My biggest weekly totals during training were 7750 yards of swimming, 220 miles of bicycling and 47 miles of running, but not always in the same week. My highest weekly totals in mileage volume & duration were 259 miles and 17 hours and 34 minutes. Having trained and competed in two Hawaii Ironman World Championships (95 & 97), I learned it is train smarter not harder. As a coach myself, I also understand that the endurance from all three is a cumulative effect, thus the no covering race distance in any training session.

Here are my training numbers leading up to Ironman Lake Placid:

18 Weeks of Serious Ironman Training
Bike - 2719 miles/ 133.34 hours/ 20.39 mph
Run - 567 miles/ 75.57 hours/ 8:00 per mile
Swim - 70 miles/ 33.27 hours
Total - 3356 mile/ 242.18 hours
Per Week - 186.44 miles/ 13.45 hours
(Bike - 151 miles/ Run - 31.5 miles/ Swim - 3.89 miles)

Training Totals Since May 30th (6 Weeks Hard & 1 Taper Week before this week) 
Bike - 1253 miles/ 61.99 hours/ 20.21 mph/ 43727ft of climbing (6246.71 per week)
Run - 222 miles/ 29.61 hours/ 8:00 per mile/ 2038ft of climbing
Swim - 28.5 miles/ 13.24 hours
Total - 1503.5 miles/ 104.94 hours
Per Week - 214.79 miles/ 14.99 hours
(Bike - 179 miles/ Run - 31.71 miles/ Swim - 4.07 miles)

My goal is to not just finish this Ironman but to race this Ironman. Not sure if that will be this weekend or if I am still another good year of training away, but my ultimate goal still remains the same ever since I returned to triathlons four years ago......Get back to Kona! Aside from possibly my last trip to Kona in 1997, I just might be in the best triathlon shape of my life (even at my old age)! But as anybody who has competed in an Ironman distance race, so many things can happen in an event that will take as long as this one. One must be ready to mentally adjust goals and aspirations as the day unfolds. But if everything goes perfectly, you never know what the results will bring.......

Whatever the day brings, I am looking forward to hearing that call of "You are an Ironman"

But hopefully at my goal time!



Tuesday, June 28, 2016

I'm Back! Race Report & 26 Days Till Ironman Lake Placid


"Be running up that road,
 Be running up that hill,
 With no problems."
Running Up That Hill - Placebo (Kate Bush - Original)


Holy Crap!!!!

Where does the time go? I can recall shortly after the start of the new year, I changed the blog page to the theme of training for Ironman Lake Placid and here it is just 27 days till race day and my lazy ass has not posted once. Most are probably happy that I have not bored you over the past 5 months with my monotonous daily training regimen!! 

Others may wonder with all that training I do, how can I be considered lazy? Here is how.... First, aside from my training, I am a self-admitted lazy person. I am that person who will drive around to find the closest parking spot to the grocery store. I have a Mio Global Fuse (which tracks my steps) and except for running days, I am lucky if I get 4000-5000 steps a day! My go to defense........I do enough biking, swimming and running that should cut me some slack on the laziness! 

Now it does not explain my laziness with the blog posting.

Have I been training? Yes!

Have triathletes broken some of my unwritten rules of things not to do? Oh hell yeah! Including myself!

Have more stupid professional athletes been caught doping? Unfortunately, still way too many of them for me to ridicule!

Have I thought at times....."Man it has been a while since I have blogged?" Hey, what a surprise, another Yes!

Now, I did manage to get off my lazy ass  to race this past weekend at the Millheim Sprint Triathlon. The race consisted of a 300 yard pool swim, 15.3 bike and 3.1 mile run.

The swim consisted of 2 lengths per each of the 6 lanes with swimmer taking off at 30 second increments. Unfortunately, even though being in 4:15-20 shape, I had to start after all pre-registered and seeded swimmers as the timer had already seeded them. So based on my number I would be the 56th swimmer to start. This made for a fun swim as I had to navigate swimmers and even passed as many as 3 swimmers on some lengths. In the end, I tap the final wall at 4:48 but somehow when results were posted I had the 4th fastest swim.

The run from the pool to the bike was at least 200 yards and my transition was 2:02.

The 15.3 mile bike was basically flat for the first 8 miles with hills over the next 5 miles with a 2 mile downhill to flat return to transition. Once on the bike my mindset was on hammering and seeing how much ground on could make up on those that started well before me. I also knew in the back of my mind that starting 18 minutes after the 1st person, catching everybody would be impossible but it would not hurt to try! I finished the 15.3 mile ride in 40:09 or 22.9 mph. It was the top bike split of the day.

The actual 5K run started at the pool area so my transition time was 1:45.

Once again, not knowing exactly where everybody was I just ran steady off the bike. About a half mile into the run I passed the 1st returning triathlete who started well before me. In my head, I kept trying to figure out how much in front of me and how much time I needed to make up to beat him. While still trying to figure this out, my focus was running down people and passing them all the way to line. In the end, I covered the 3.1 mile in 21:07 or 6:48 per mile. The run was an out and back course with a few small climbs. While I may not have felt fast on the run, I felt incredibly strong and steady given all my training for Ironman Lake Placid. It was the 2nd fastest run split of the day.

Total time 1:09:53.96 - 1st Place Overall

Now back to Ironman Lake Placid Training!


1st Overall Prize - Growler of choice at Elk Creek Brewery