Friday 12 August 2011

Ironman Lake Placid

Hi all,
this is long overdue, but i thought i would email everyone to let them know about the Ironman in lake placid.   This will probably be long, so grab your favorite bevy, popcorn, etc..


On July 20th, My Dad, Shawna and I loaded up the car to head down to lake placid, ny.    we left cobourg about 8am and got down to placid about 1pm.    We couldn't get into the apartment we rented til about 3pm, so my dad and I thought we'd go out for a bike ride.   I had a 60mins bike ride to do, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to show my dad the run course, then take him up the last 3 hills on the bike course.  It was a pretty hot day, we got through the bike ride.  After the hills back into placid, my dad told me how much more respect he has for us athletes and how we have to do that twice!   The 20th was my dads birthday, so we took him out for dinner to a pizza place overlooking Mirror lake.



Thursday, I had to do 1 lap of the swim, followed by a bike/run.   Once I completed the workouts, I met up with my friends Mike, Leanne to get registered.   Registration is quite the process.  Signing multiple waivers, doing a 'weigh in', then getting all of our goodies.   We took the opportunities to get a few good shots in there.    After the registration, we headed over to the expo.  I knew this would be trouble for me, buying everything in sight.  I picked up a new cycling outfit, as well as some other goodies.  


On thursday afternoon, Shawna surprised me with one of my books on the ironman with all messages from friends, families back home.   There were multiple cards, messages of support.   It was pretty overwhelming for all the messages.  I'm glad she did it on thursday and not saturday afternoon!   Later that day, my brother and mom arrived.   My mom showed up with a gift for me for race day.   I don't think anyone was going to miss me!

Friday was an offday which i hung out with the family.   That evening we headed over to the athletes dinner at the horseshoe grounds.   The meal was ok.    Just before the festivities began, a man came over and put his hands on my shoulder and wished me luck.  It was Mike Reilley..  he's the voice of the Ironman.  he's the announcer for all the races arcross the world.  I was hoping this was a good omen!   the athletes dinner was really powerful with a lot of inspiring speeches, including Matt Long.   He was a NY fire fighter who was crushed by a bus back in 2005.   He ended up coming back to complete the ironman in 2009.     One thing that he said that really stuck with me was "that there is nothing else we can do at this point.  come race day we have to have confidence in our training to get us through the day".  More on Matt Long can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn2KjO5zrBo&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GpHpF_sg0M&feature=related   pretty inspiring stuff!


Saturday I pretty much layed on the couch all day.   I took my bike in for the bike/bag check in.  You have to deliver your bike the day before the race.   Also its mandatory you drop off your "bike" bag, and your "run" bag.   Included in these bags is everything you'll need.(bike/run clothes, bike helmet, bike/running shoes, clothes etc..).   I met up with my friend Mike again to drop off all of our gear. 

Sunday morning!  RACE DAY!   I was up at 4:30am, had a bowl of Oatmeal and egg whites, then started to head down to the race at 5am.   Although the race didn't start til 7am, there was tonne of stuff that I needed to get done - check bike, get body marked, meet up with friends.   Upon arriving down at the water, I realized that I forgot my goggles at the apartment!   Shawna said she'd go back and get them for me.  Getting down to the water and seeing the whole set up, this race finally sunk in.   Wow.. i couldn't believe that after 3 years of watching this race, I was now going to be a part of it.    I hopped in the water about 6:30am and swam over to the side where i could see my friend Stephen, and Leanne.  I chatted with him a bit.   As the start time got nearer I made my way up closer to the starting line.   Just before the starting line, the song "Bittersweet Symphony" came on.    This is the exact song that was playing 3 years ago when i witnessed my first Ironman.   Before I knew it, the gun was off and we were swimming.  

 the first 900m was pretty busy with a lot of contact.  I just made sure to keep swimming.   It wasn't as bad as I thought, I could always find open water.  When I reached the the turn buoy I didn't get touched again for the next 3km.   As I got out of the water on the first loop I heard Mike Reilley call out my name.  It was nice to hear.  My goal time for the swim was 1:15-1:20.  I got out at 1:14!  good start to the day!







T1 - its a long run to the oval where you get changed for the run.  My dad was working security about 300m from the swim.  I ran up and gave him a hug, and said "one down, 2 to go".  he seemed really happy to see me.  I grabbed my "bike bag" and headed into the change tent.   it was absolute chaos in there! I got changed, put on sunscreen and headed out on the bike.

Bike - The bike is a challenging 2 loop bike course.   You start off by doing a climb out of placid followed by a 8km descent, followed by a good flat section, then the looooong climb back into placid.   many, many people said to go easy on the first loop of the bike.   As I was leaving placid, I tried to keep this in mind.   Really tried to keep effort low.   Today, I was really looking forward to the descent for some reason!?  I've always had troubles with the descent, as you can reach really high speeds, and with the combination of turns, it makes for a pretty scary 10mins!   However, with the road being closed to traffic, I felt so much better descending.   As I was going down i passed my friend Leanne.  I didn't want to say anything to throw off her concentration so I just waved and kept going.   The first thing I noticed on the bike was that my nutrition wasn't going down too well.   My plan was to alternate powerbar/electrolyte and gels/water every hour.   I was having troubles keeping the bars down.   There was a lot of dry heaving on the bike with the bars.    For the 2nd loop I made the decision to go with straight gels.   Coming back into town after the first loop was an amazing feeling.  The supporters made you feel like a rockstar!  I saw my family cheering me on as I flew by them!(I couldn't miss the sign!).   The 2nd loop of the bike was much tougher then I anticipated.  I struggled pretty much from 160k - 180k.  not to mention my nutrition plan had to be changed.    People had posted along the bike course which was encouraging to read "Don't Suck - Love Jen", "Chuck Norris is not an Ironman".. there was even a sign saying "hey _____  guess who's pregnant!".  if I saw that during a race I think it would throw off my whole day.   My goal was 6:00hrs to 6:30hrs.  I got off the bike at 6:40.  I'll take it.  wasn't as fast as I wanted...but oh well.  


T2 - I handed off my bike to a volunteer, then made the slow walk back to the tent with my run bag.   My legs were soo tired from that 2nd loop.   I got changed in my run clothes, sat in the change tent and thought about calling it a day at that point.  I figured there was no way I could go out and now run a marathon.   I thought I'd give it a shot and run really easy, maybe do a shuffle and see how it goes.


Run - This was going to be my FIRST marathon.    Who does this? runs their first marathon after working out for 8hrs?!   In training I only made it up to 30k once, as I was dealing with a few injuries, so i wasn't sure what was going to happen on this run.   I started running and I turned a corner to start heading out of placid for the first loop.  I could see my dad waiting for me at the top of the hill. 


He ran down with me, then I saw Shawna. I started to walk and talk with them.   The first loop was a lot of walking.   Heading out of town a group of people were playing "Don't stop Believing" by the Glee cast?!   who does that!  I wanted to hear that song that day...but the original!    The first loop I did a lot of talking/walking with other racers.  The 2nd loop of the run went much better.  I decided to pick my battles.  I would walk on inclines, then run as much as I could on flats.  I would take a gel, orange, water, electrolytes at every aid station, as well as 2 sponges to get water over my head.  I met a lot of interesting people along the way.   I felt really good, and about Mile 22 I thought,"hey, I think I can get under 13hrs".  I saw a guy from toronto, I mentioned this to him, and he said "Good luck with that.  no way you are getting under 13hrs at this point".   Figured I didn't need his negativity so I bailed on him and continued on my way.   



The Finish - When I decided to do this Ironman I knew it would take a lot of commitment on my part, as well as Shawna's.   My plan from Day 1 was to propose to Shawna before I crossed the finish line.   I had my brother in on the plan, as I needed someone to hold the ring for the day(didnt' want to lose it).   As I approached the finish line, I stopped, got the ring from Ian, then went into the finishing chute.   What an incredible feeling!   The finish line in Lake Placid is the outdoor speedskating oval.  There is about 1000 people all cheering you on as you approach.   Finishing the Ironman is much different then any other race as the athlets are all spread out, so you have the finish to yourself.  I was able to find Shawna just before the finsh and walked over, and got down on one knee and proposed.    The crowd went nuts!  lots of photos were taken.   I ended up crossing the finish line at 12:58:35. 



I really want to thank my family - Ron(dad), Joan(mom), Megan(sister), her husband Aaron, and my brother Ian for being there and sharing the day with them.   It was such an awesome feeling coming in on every loop and seeing that sign and hearing their cheering!   Means a lot that you guys would come down and support!


I'm happy with my time.   Would I do another one?  hmmm...  maybe one day.  It was quite the learning experience.  I'm now enjoying some much deserved time off, and reconnecting with friends... oh ya.. planning a wedding too!
  

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