Race information
Goals
| Goal |
Description |
Completed? |
| A |
<10:30 |
No |
| B |
<11:00 |
Yes |
| C |
Don’t die on run |
NOPE! |
Training
After two 70.3 races early in the season, I built up the volume with the help of my coach from ITL Coaching & Performance. I averaged about 16 hours per week, maxing out at 23.25 hours a few weeks out from the race.
I wasn’t too concerned about the swim, having seen the entire course during a training camp in mid-June. The lake is great, and the cable makes it pretty straightforward. I was hoping for 1 hour, where my 70.3 swims are usually 26-28 minutes.
I was able to build up a bit more running volume, getting up to ~40 miles/week for a few, then 50 miles at peak. In past years, I only hit low 30s, so I was really happy to be able to get this volume in my legs. That said, I still had to be conservative with some knee tendonitis, even though my old nemesis, shin splints, had been kept at bay for the most part. I concentrated on making my easy runs easy, slowing my pace and keeping my HR under 140bpm whereas last year I was at the high end of Z2 closer to 150bpm.
When it came to the bike, I definitely put a lot of time into this, now my strongest discipline. My FTP was somewhere in the neighborhood of 290. I averaged around 7 hours/week and maxed at 15.6 hours at peak. Tendonitis curtailed bike volume somewhat, but I was able to push through with some PT and a knee strap.
Gear
This was my fifth race on my Trek Speed Concept 2018, and I continued to use my Castelli Free Sanremo trisuit, Hoka One One Clayton 2 shoes, Giro AeroHead MIPS helmet, Garmin FR935 watch, and Louis Garneau bike shoes.
I rented Zipp 808s for this race from RaceDayWheels, as is tradition. I was a bit hesitant with potential winds on the Keene descent, but decided to go for it.
I also must reiterate how much Injinji toe socks have helped for blister prevention.
Pre-race
I drove up to Lake Placid with my wife on Thursday morning, getting there just in time to swap wheels and register before the 5pm close. I prefer to avoid bigger crowds later in the weekend. Having been up to LP in June, I was familiar with the course and layout, but wanted to see transition and understand in/out locations, etc.
I also had extended family staying at our AirBnB in Saranac Lake (15min drive from LP village), which was awesome. About 10 of us in total…made the weekend feel even more special and it was great to have additional Sherpa support.
On Friday, I got a swim in Mirror Lake with my uncle, then a quick spin on the start of the course to wake the legs up (probably should have done a bit longer). The wind was apparent, and I was a little hesitant on downhills one I swerved a couple times. I was happy the forecast looked calm for race day. The rest of Friday was just hanging out, checking out the welcome ceremony with T3 Philly, then a nice dinner.
Saturday was logistics day. I parked a car pretty close to transition to keep there overnight in order to have access for my bike post-race (with the help of my wife). Next, I checked the gear bags (first time for me), and the bike. There were actually bike tires popping despite it not being THAT hot out. I did let air out, but that made me nervous. My wife then texted me that Mike Reilly was in the merch tent signing books, so I bee-lined it and was able to meet the man behind the voice (Having Mike there was part of what contributed to choosing IMLP as my first full).
After that, I went for a quick 2 mile shake out run, ate lunch, relaxed and then my family picked me up on the dock at our house to go on a boat cruise on Lake Flower. We explored some narrow channels and went through a lock, which was pretty cool.
We had a great dinner at Caffe Rustica that evening. I need to have my pizza/pasta the night before a race.
Race Morning
My first IM race morning! Special needs bags, gear bag checks, lots of walking compared to standard transitions. I got up early to have my same breakfast of oatmeal with milk, PB and banana with a bit of OJ. After that, my full stretching and foam-rolling repertoire.
We headed to transition about 5am, giving me enough time to take care of the usual business and get a quick splash for a warmup.
Swim: 1:00:xx (12th AG, 92nd OA)
Water temp 74 degrees. Water was quite calm. I was in the middle of the first wave and was very happy to see that after I squeezed through some of the later waves of people waiting, that there was plenty of space by the swim start archway. Usually, I have to fight through a tight fenced-in path that felt like we were being herded.
Mike Reilly was right next to me counting down to the start, and I got a high five before inching up to the water. I found myself on the cable fairly quickly and decided it wasn’t too bad so I stayed there. The biggest issue was navigating around the slowpokes who shouldn’t have been in wave 1. I found pockets of open water, but was in pretty tight quarters the whole first lap (just under 29 mins on the watch). Getting out of the water for lap 2 was a first, but wasn’t too disorienting. They even had cups of water! The second lap was tougher with swimmers of all speeds. Definitely lost some time due to navigating around people, but my hip flexors were also really bothering me (never happened before), and I even had to try breaststroke for a moment to try and wake them up (this would come back on the run).
Overall time was an hour flat, pretty much what I expected. Totally happy with it, not having overexerted myself.
T1: 5:39
It is a significant run on carpeted pavement to transition, but I took it easy and felt great. I was excited to use the tent for the first time! The temperature was high low 60s at this point, and definitely cloudy. Having help while changing was great. Definitely took a bit more time to get situated and make sure I get everything out of – and back into – the bag. I didn’t dawdle, but made sure I wasn’t skipping anything.
Bike: 5:23:xx (7th AG, 50th OA)
Lap one was pretty fun, passing a bunch of people, only being passed by a few. The Keene Descent was pretty nuts as people were in aero the whole way. I tried to be smart and sat up for the really sketchy parts. Didn’t lose much time there, and I stuck with a pack for a while almost to the end of lap 1. It was really fun coming through the village and seeing all of the support.
I kept on my nutrition, grabbing bottles of Gatorade to put BTA, and diluting with water when possible with bottle behind the saddle. I probably had about 4 bottles of gatorade and 1-2 of water. I started with 1 clif bar, then moved to a bunch of Clif Bloks until the last hour or so when I switched to gels in anticipation of the run. Generally, ~300cals/hour.
Lap two was much lonelier, and I was on my own for a lot of it. I started lapping some of the slower folks on their first lap, but they weren’t great company since I was just passing by! I did catch a few guys on the Hasleton out and back, but dropped them so that by the time we got to turn home at Wilmington, I was basically by myself. This is the only part of the course that I just don’t like at all – totally fine with the 3 bears, and the other climbs. The final hills certainly hurt more this time around, but there was also a significant wind directly against as the heat and humidity started to rise as well. As my HR monitor wasn’t working, I went by power, cadence and feel to keep myself somewhat in check. The support up the 3 bears and into T2 was such a great vibe, really felt special.
I had my target power at 215w and speed at 21mph, which I was pretty close to overall hitting 210w for NP and 20.8mph. Being my first full, it was hard to tell if I had enough in the tank for the run, but didn’t feel bad. Given that there were ~20 pros, I am quite proud of my bike performance.
T2: 4:22
For the first time ever, getting off the bike and running in T2 had me waddling/shuffling like never before. That concerned me, but went away quickly.
I could really get used to the change tents. It made things pretty easy getting changed over, and they had a trough to pee in on the way out!
Run: 4:10:xx (31st AG, 225th OA)
I started out of transition feeling good, and being yelled at by my brother as he ran alongside me on the other side of the barrier going nuts. Good way to start!
This was my first ever marathon as well…
My plan was to try and hold 8:30 mile pace (3:45 marathon) as long as I could. Heading down the hills, I tried not to overdo it, and had to fight off a side stitch that luckily did subside for a bit. I passed overall Pro leader, Matt Russell, at my mile 5 and his mile 17 or so and got to see the moto and camera which was cool. Offered him some kudos which he returned.
I kept up with gatorade/water/gels for the first loop, and my legs were turning over well enough to stay close to 8:30 pace through about mile 13. Coming back into town up the hills was tough, but I was still feeling okay. My HR had been at the top end of my desired range, but I did keep that in check to allow myself a chance at an okay 2nd half.
It was about mile 15 once I got back down to River Road that my hip flexors really gave out and made it painful just to lift my legs. On top of that, my dreaded side stitch returned in full force. All of this happened as the heat and humidity had risen to a point where water and ice were necessary in the trisuit [Note: Don’t pour so much ice down your back so that it pools against your butt cheek and borderline feels like frostbite is forming].
So this is where the wheels fell off, making nutrition tougher, and walk/run the only choice. I never stopped trying to run, but the pain never subsided enough to go more than 30-60 seconds at a time. The volunteers, spectators, and fellow athletes were very supportive, and a few guys who I had seen all day were in a similar spot so we passed back and forth as we struggled to maintain a slow, steady pace. There were A LOT of people walking, including Pros. It was apparently one of the toughest days for IMLP in decades with a ~15% DNF rate.
Those last 10 miles were frustrating, painful, and definitely made me rethink my run training and what happened that led to my hip flexor issue and side stitch (which has shown up a lot this year). I was doing mental calculations and became quickly impressed with how slow I was going, and how fast 9min/mile now felt. I was running for miles with my hand gripping my side.
Post-race: Finish: 10:44:xx (15th AG, 89 OA)
I was able to muster a bit of strength as I saw my family on the final out and back before the finish, and then once more when I saw that I was on the path to the Olympic Oval for the finish line, I looked around and luckily had no athletes near me. I tried to take it all in as I rounded for the home stretch and saw the red carpet. I high-fived my family, and heard Mike Reilly’s voice mentioning my name and Philly, but I did not hear the words we all know and love…I had to look up the finish video and experience it after the fact – yes he did indeed say it! It was the most emotional I had been at a finish, just a split second, but a new feeling representing to long journey to get there.
Once I finished, I felt good considering. I ate a few bites of food and plenty of fluids, but then started getting a bit tingly. The older lady who was looking after me noticed my fingernails going blue/gray and we decided to go to the med tent. Turns out I was a bit hypoxic and an excess of CO2 in my body had caused some imbalances. Slow breaths exhaling longer than inhaling (for a long time, maybe 15-20 min) got me to a state where I was able to head out. The medical volunteers were great, but the people at the front of the tent confused my wife when she came to check on me, and that caused some worry.
That made the post-race experience a bit anti-climatic not being able to take the pictures and see everyone, however we took care of picking up my gear and got the heck out of there to plan the feast for the evening with the rest of the family. Pizza, rice krispie treats, milkshakes, wine and some compression boots made for a nice little recovery night where we all hung out and discussed the extremely long day.
Post-race: Recovery
The next day, we checked out the roll-down ceremony (where I wound up about 30min away from the position that took the 2nd Kona slot, which is hilarious to even consider). It was inspiring to see this in person for the first time. We also perused the hockey rinks, and soaked up a bit more of the Olympic vibe. So cool that you can just walk through on your own!
My wife and I then checked into the Crowne Plaza in LP for some much needed rest and relaxation where we ate and drank our way through town, did some swimming (lake, pool, hot tub), and shopped a bit too. Our final dinner at Lake Placid Lodge was spectacular.
Final Thoughts
I am very happy with the result, given how brutal my run was. I nailed my swim, bike, and first half of the run. I was able to enjoy myself for the majority of the day, and really appreciated the special environment in Lake Placid with the Olympic history, support and spectators, my family, and the beauty of the course.
Coming into this, I had no idea if I’d ever do another full. I still don’t know what the future race plans are, but am certainly open to the idea. The next one would be flatter, but eventually would love to come back and try IMLP again. A great experience overall!
Tri'ing Out: Adventures of An Amateur Triathlete 