The second time around, IMLP

2013 volunteering

At the end of last July, I took a road trip with my training partner Steve and our buddy Cory to Lake Placid to volunteer at the Ironman.  My goal for the trip was to see what an Ironman was like before toeing the line for my first a month later in Louisville.  I should have known, after seeing the race first hand   I would have to sign up.  So early the next morning I got on that long line inside the Olympic Center and secured my spot.

Fast forward to this July, leaving my house at 3 AM Thursday morning and making the 11 hour drive from Newport News to Lake Placid.  As last year, I was camping at the KOA in Whiteface, yes sleeping in a tent for five days for an Ironman.  This time thought I had a old army cot that provided me with some of the best nights sleep I had in a while.  Also as last year, my training partner Steve Smith and I were splitting as campsite.  He was able to secure a cabin starting on Friday, so we set up our tents and when he and his family moved to their cabin I stayed on the site.  

My home for a few days

Better than a hotel bed!

Now that the logistics are worked out the next day Steve and I headed to Mirror Lake for a practice swim.  There was a good sized group from the Hampton Roads tri community racing and we meet local pro Rachel Jastrebsky, her friends and husband Brian's coach Jesse and Tyler Coquelin.  We swam the entire loop, I have to say what an amazing place to swim.  The cable the buoys are tied to is easy to see, you can follow it barely having to having to sight at all.  Then once you get to the turn buoy, there is a cable running across  to the return line.  A great sight line, clear water, no current or chop, wetsuit temps but not too cold, what is not to love.  This swim for me felt effortless and fast, I was able to keep long and worked the follow through as well as drafting off a few people in the group.  Confidence is building.

After we went to athlete check in and toured the Ironman village, I went out for a 90 min ride, rode most of the back end of the course.  My route took me along one of the longer climbs and I was moving nicely, keeping my watts low and my confidence was building even more.

Saturday, Steve and I went back into Placid and meet our friend Cory for a shakeout swim and run.  Both went great and after we went to the Ironman tri club breakfast.  This was a good time, nice to meet some of the Ironman staff and other athletes.  We had a chance to chat with one of the pro's Josh Rix from Melbourne, Australia and catch up with a few Snapple team mates Holli Finneren and Adam Stolzberg.  After, we took the bikes out for a quick ride to make sure everything was working and head to bike check in and gear bag drop off.   We also meet with Rachel and her husband Brian, they saved my butt by picking up a pack of bottles for my fuel belt.  The only local places that carried them are on the other side of the water back home.  I owe you both big time, thank you and just let me know when we can get together so I can buy a few rounds.

When we got back to camp, Steve went with his family to watch his kids compete in the kids Ironman that the campground held, congrats to Alex and Gaving for killing it just like their Dad.   I hit the cot and fell asleep for a bit, a little while later I meet my parents who were going to use Steves tent so the could take us down to the race the very early the next morning.

See if you can find my bike

Race morning, my parents dropped Steve and I off and headed off to park.  We arrived before transition opened and there were volunteers out in the street doing body marking, check one thing off the todo list.  That done, we waited until transition opened  and set up our bike, another item off the list.  Then I headed over to my gear bags and added my cycling jacket, just incase.  The chance of rain was high so I wanted to have the option of more than arm warmers if it was cold and raining by the time I got to T1.  At this point I lost Steve and my parents in the crowd so I left transition for the walk to drop off my special needs bags. Once that was done, I was able to reconnect with everyone down by the swim start.  

Steve and I before the swim

I got my Xterra Vortex wetsuit on, finished my Osmo Preload and a Bonk breaker bar said goodbye to my parents and Steve and I made our way into our corral. This swim start lets you self-seed yourself into different corrals based on what you think your swim time will be.  Thinking back to that time waiting in line, I am surprised at how calm I was. Last year I felt like puking but this year I was nervous but who wouldn’t be, I was taking in the sites, enjoying the music and thinking of my Granddaughter Addison.  I guess thanks to the two practice swims going so well I stopped obsessing (I know shocking right) about how much time I have missed in the pool this year.

The swim:

This swim is a 2 loop course with a short run on the beach to start the seconds leg.  The gun went off and the pro men hit the water, a moment or two later followed by the pro women.  Two minutes after that one more cannon shot and the first wave of age groupers dove in.  We were in the second wave and it may have been less than a minute before I was diving in and searching for the cable to follow.  I lost Steve right away, but found some feet to draft off of.  A few hundred yards later when I breathed right I saw Steve and his orange goggles, hard to miss.  The funny thing is he didn't realized it was me and we were pushed into each other, guess who provided the first few blows of my swim, that's right Dr. Steven Smith, thanks bud! LOL  We came up onto a group and by the time I fought and I mean fought through it Steve was gone. Time to find someone to draft off of,  I finally found a set of feet but after a 100 or so yards they slowed down and short while later we came to the first turn.  A short distance to the next turn buoy and it was back to the start area.  The leg back was pretty smooth, I found the cable and was able to hold it most of the way  with only a few small groups to fight through.  

When I hit the beach I heard Mike Riley call Steves' name, he was only a few seconds ahead of me, nice I am keeping up. I hit the water again and HOLY CRAP where there a lot a people, welcome to fight club!   

Again after 300 yards I breath to left and there was Steve again but this time he was nice enough to not throw any punches and this time I was able to catch a side draft, thanks again!  Once again we hit a group and were separated.  As mentioned, the second loop was much more crowded and brutal.  From this point to the turn buoy I was punched, kicked, bumped more than any other race I have been in.  I took one shot directly to the right eye, thankfully I was wearing the goggles that go over the eye socket and do not sit in it so all they did was make the seal tighter and piss me off.  I decided it was time to plowed the road.  What that means is as my arm would go to the top of my stroke, instead of going down, I would push the person in front of me out of my way.   Finally my size helps me in this sport.  After I cleared space I would push the pace to get clear.  As I made it to the return leg, time went pretty quick until about 300 yards out, as I breathed to the right I saw lightning.  Great!  My pace got a little quicker and pretty soon my hand was hitting sand. Shortly after I was getting the wetsuit off and starting the run to T1.

Swim 1:02:50

T1 flew by, the run to tent was not as long as I thought and I found my bag easy enough.  The 20-30 times I walked it earlier that morning may have helped.  While grabbing my gear I made the decision to wear my cycling jacket, threw whatever else I needed into the pockets and was off to grab my bike.

T1 6:33

The bike:

After the mount line there was a few quick downhills and a sharp left turn.  All I heard for the last two days was to take those slow and there is a reason there are hay bales at the turn.  I heeded the advice and rode the brakes down, the rain also helped in that decision.  As I got going, I kept reminding myself to take it easy, spin up the hills and save it for the run.  Once again the rain helped with that, what didn't help was I was soaked pretty quick and after 15 minutes already getting cold.  

By this time the thunder was rolling, lightning flashing and the rain falling heavier, as I reached the top of the first climb  tried the first descent in the aero bars to see how it would feel.  It didn't take long, the bike was all over and I won't even try to play it cool, it scared the living crap out of me.  I decided right there to ride to survive and see how much time I can make up on the run.  Let’s be truly honest, it is not like I had shot at the podium or Kona, not with the field of athletes at this event.  So to the bull horns and breaks it is, the next 15 miles were slow and easy, it felt like entire field was flying by me.  By the time I was getting close to the town of Keene, I had started to give consideration to whether or not I should abandon the race if the conditions didn't improve.  Really was not sure riding two loops in this mess was worth it.

Then I made the left turn onto route 9N and found myself starting to warm up and holding a nice pace.  My power was a little low but that is exactly what the plan was for the first lap, and by mile 40, the sun actually popped out.  Oh yeah, guess what happens to Bonk Breaker bars sitting in a bento box that are soaked and sitting in water? They start to dissolve and it’s NOT PRETTY or tasty.  Unfortunately it was all the nutrition I had until I hit the next aid station and to make matters worse the Tums and electrolyte tablets in my pocket fell out of the bag and were now a ball of white goo.

Back to lap one, as the sun came out I was on route 86 and the climbs back into Placid.  For the most part it was 16 miles of mostly uphill grade with the biggest climb right before turning into the town.  Time went pretty fast, chatted with some people, started to warm up and most importantly was I feeling strong.

I hit special needs and the gentleman holding my bag as it turns out designed the Snapple tri kit I was wearing and with him was Matt Ferguson a friend I have made through the Snapple team.  Nice to see a familiar face and I saw Matt last year while I was volunteering and he was racing, thought it was a cool coincidence we ran into each other.  I grabbed what I needed, stuffed a nutella sandwich in my mouth and was off.  The next mile or so was pretty cool riding back through town, saw my family and heard the cheers from friends.  What a boost!

I hope I looked like this

Soon it was back to the course, those same quick downhills and sharp turn I took as slow as I did the first time.  This time on those downhills I had a much different experience, in the aero bars and moving as fast as possible. When I hit the really big descent (1,175 feet of elevation loss per my Garmin on this 5 mile stretch) I did go to the bull horns but this time I was crouched down like you see on the Tour De France, arms tucked in and trying to stay as aero as possible.  To show the difference, the average on the same 5 mile stretch on  the first loop was 27.5 and a max speed of 35.2, second loop average 33.6 with a max of 46.5, needless to say it was A LOT more fun.

After the turn, I powered through as last time but put a bit more effort into it, as I finished the out and back on RT 9N and hit the cross road with the long climb.  It was starting to get a bit tough but the legs did start to come back around.  I knew my pace was a little slower but that was to be expected at this point.  

Finally I hit mama bear, then as I came over baby bear I was really starting to feel good.  Right at the base of papa bear it finally happened, my chain dropped going to the small ring.  This has happened every race this year and I  jinxed myself 10 miles earlier thinking, wow I haven't dropped the chain.  I jumped off the bike and as you would know it the chain was stuck between the frame and crank, it took a minute to get it loose and back on the small ring.  Once on, I felt rejuvenated and powered up papa bear.  It felt like I flew up it, per Garmin I averaged 9 mph on the first and 12 mph the second.  So a 3 mph difference at 195 pounds, I guess that's flying up a steep climb, right?  

After that I pushed the pace to transition to try and make up a minute or two.  The important thing was I came of the bike feeling strong.  So thankful to the Osmo Active in all my bottles, the new nutrition plan I have been using this year as well as following my coach Adams advice. This provided a big difference than in Louisville, where I felt tired and worn out.

Bike 6:07:25

T2 flew by and I have to say it was due to a major breakthrough for me on the bike.  I finally was able to pee on the bike, (Dixie and Peggy, I know you're proud) yes gross, disgusting, etc but it helped me take 6 minutes off my T2 so totally worth it!  Ok maybe not a total of 6 minutes was spent in the porta john last year in T2 but it felt like it.  I will not be doing this on training rides, sorry Steve we are stopping but in a race, hell yeah!  

T2 3:37 (now that is more like it, Louisville was over 9 minutes)

The run:

Feeling good

As I left transition, I got a tremendous boost seeing my family and friends, their cheering fueled me on.  Once I got away from the crowds I kept a constant eye on my watch, I was not going to let my pace get faster then 8:50 and burn all my matches as I had last year.  It was hard to hold pace as the first mile seemed to be nothing but downhill.  Luckily I was able to meet my pace goals for the first 11 miles.  Wait, I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

So the first 11 miles actually went by pretty fast, after the nice downhill it was a bit of a run down Cascade Rd to River Rd. Nice crowd support along the route and as I reached River Rd I started to see so many of my friends heading back in.  It was nice to see everyone looking strong.  

Right around the 6 mile mark,  I started to get some GI issues but not like in the past, this was more along my lower abdomen and not cramps but mild pain. I was really surprised by this as I had been hitting the Clif bloks and Osmo Active regularly since the start of the run with no issues but after a while the discomfort grew.  I had to give in and hit the porta john just after the mile 7.5 mark.  After a minute or two I was back running and feeling better, again as I hydrated and took my nutrition I felt fine for the next 4 miles but out of the blue the pain returned and I would have to stop again.  This happened about three more times over the last 15 miles of the race.  Thinking back I believe this was due to the wet and dissolving Bonk Breaker bars, it was the only thing different about my nutrition plan.

Coming back into to town the nice downhill at the start was a looming big ass hill (and I mean BIG ASS hill) to climb, I was so proud of myself for being able to run up it.  What a freaking mistake!  I say that because of what happened later and to run the salt into the wound the guy who won the race mentioned in his speech at the awards breakfast the next morning how he walked up the hill both times.  Good advice if I do Placid again.

So why was it a mistake, because it fried my quads, after running back down to start loop two and a going over a few more small up and downs I was still feeling ok but the pain in the legs was growing.  Then just after mile 17, my legs clamped down as I hit an uphill.  I have to say it was not "the wall" you hear so much about in a marathon as I had energy to spare but my legs hurt so bad I was forced to walk.  As such  I had to run/walk the rest of the race.  

The upside of lap two was I got see my buddy Cory and he was looking strong.  Also, as I was almost back to town I came up to a guy wearing an LBI race kit.  We got to talking and it turns out we are both from Long Beach Island, both have houses in Manahawkin and his coach was a friend from high school, Chris Fritz.  Small world, great race Ken Roma and congrats.

The last few miles were a painful mix, I would start to feel better and run only to make if a few yards.  Then as I came down Mirror Lake Drive and towards the cones that were set up to mark the way for loop two or to the finish, the pain went away.  

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The crowds along the street started to cheer and those same emotions I had in Louisville flooded back.  Within a blink of the eye I was in the oval and making my way around towards the  finish.  I slowed up and let space between me and the person ahead of me grow, I wanted to soak this in.  As I entered the blue lined finishing chute, I slapped hands on both side, smiled big and heard Mike Riley call my name.  This time I didn’t hear anything after “from Newport News” due to the crowd noise but I didn’t care.  There really is nothing like the finish at an Ironman, it is electric, intoxicating even, absolutely amazing.  It makes the last 6 months of training and stress all worth it.  Once I crossed that line and  the flash bulbs died and the medal was around my neck,  my legs decided I had enough fun and too the med tent I went.

Run: 4:17:53

Total: 11:38:17 61st AG 333 Overall

You are an Ironman!

What a ride, I want to start off by thanking my family. My wife Maggie, my son Orlando and Granddaughter Addison for putting up with all of this so I can do what I love. To my parents for everything and always being there no matter how old I get.  To the rest of my family for all the encouragement and support.

A big thank you to my coach Adam Otstot, you help me reach my goals every year, I have been very lucky to have such a great coach and mentor.  To my swim coach Steve Hennessy and everyone who is part of the Fort Eustis Masters swim group, I can’t say enough how great this group is. I have learned so much and look forward to swimming with you all as long as I can.  Thank you to my training partner and close friend Steve Smith and his family as well as all of the Hampton Roads tri community. You are all such an amazing group of people and I am so lucky to be able to be a part of it.  A big shout out to Cory Newman and his new fiance Alicia, congratulations on your engagement and to Cory on his first Ironman.  Congratulations to Hampton Roads pros Katie Thomas (and Snapple Team member) on her 6th place finish and Rachel Jastrebsky on 7th.  It was great to get to race with you both.  

Thank you to the Snapple tri club and especially Mindy and Bart, you have made me feel welcome from day one, I am so grateful for your support as well as to the Snapple tri club sponsors: Rudy Project, Xterra wetsuits, Osmo nutrition, Clif Bars and Louis Garneau.  A huge thank you to Point2 Running Company and Bike Beat in Yorktown, you guys are the best. I also want to thank Dr. Stacy Sims for your help with my nutrition and hydration plan, it made a huge difference.

Now that this race is in the books it is time to take refocus and look to future.  Next year I will concentrate on 70.3 distance races and look to 2016 or 17 to do another full distance race.  As for the present, it is time to start preparing for 70.3 Princeton this September and getting to race back home in NJ for the first time.