Lake
Placid Ironman 70.3 “Anything is possible”
Backstory
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Signing
up
A
little over two years ago I decided to go out to New Hampshire and watch Cathy
in the Timberman Ironman 70.3. It was quite the experience, seeing how
the pros moved around transition like a machine was pretty cool. I was inspired by Cathy’s performance added
doing one to my bucketlist. I always had the idea of doing a full ironman
but no timetable to do one at that point.
A month later registration for Lake Placid 70.3 came up and I got tagged
by Cathy on FB. I signed up shorty later!
Backstory
- The Swim
After
the race, I started going back to the pool to relearn how to swim. I took
classes 8 years ago at Baruch College. I
was one of the three people in the class who had no idea how to swim. I would spend an extra half hour or so
practicing after class ends which was a lot for me back then (but now thinking
about it, once a week wasn’t much). I
managed to swim my first lap without stopping at the exam in the end. I
stopped swimming as soon as the class ended so it was 6 years of no swimming
where I started up again. I practiced in the kids section as the lane
swimming was entirely deep end and that was scary. The pool for aquatics
center closed for yearly maintenance and I stopped going. March 2017 came
and I signed up for Ridgefield tri, a sprint tri in June. I moved to
western Queens and got LIC YMCA membership for their pool. The non-deep
pool ended up being a good starting point. I swam my second pool lap
without stopping about 3 weeks before Ridgefield. You could kind of see
where this goes. I got pulled out of Ridgefield tri within 4 minutes. That was my first time in a wetsuit and in
open water but at that point I wasn’t even comfortable with the deep end of a
pool.
Afterwards I took
advance swim beginner lessons in the Y. I didn't get much out of
it. The instructor was a college student and was teaching adults for the
first time. He didn't have much of a structure to the class and just went
with what people wanted to do. I also went to Coney Island for open water
and Lake Tioritti in Harriman which helped a lot but never ventured beyond
where my feet couldn’t touch. Lake placid came and this time after
freaking out for about 20 minutes I got coached by John in a kayak and made it
about a mile before getting cut from the swim (an hour and 25 minutes in the
water). I credit the experience, the keeping going when everything seems
hopeless, for my 100 mile finish a few weeks later. My focus was the 100 miler and I didn’t get
enough swimming practice in. I was still
not comfortable with pool swimming at that point.
I knew that I would
try again and when registration for 2018 Lake Placid came I would try
again. My approach to training wasn't too different. I still
slacked off in swimming but my time in Mirror Lake gave me experience. I
was more aware of how water environments could influence the body and had some
backup ways to fall back on. I signed up
for Ridgefield again and this time I was able to finish.
Backstory - The Bike
Of the three sports,
cycling was the only one I started in childhood. Much of my elementary school summer days was
spent doing one mile loops on a cheap mountain bike. Though the internet eventually took over my
hobbies at middle school I never forgot the balance I learned as a kid. When I finally brought a road bike after my
undergrad years I picked up cycling quickly.
I never struggled with clip-ons and such. Everything came back naturally, as if I only
been off the bike for a year or so, not 13 years. When I did ride, I loved it but getting
myself out the door for bike rides was a challenge. I did fewer than 8 bikes rides a year till I
moved to western Queens. There I found
it quicker to commute via bike than subway so I got citibike membership. 3
miles on citibike was most of my time on a bike.
Backstory – The Run
I wrote a bit about
getting into running before so just a quick summary. I started running a year after undergraduate
college as a way to lose weight. I
started with the goal of jogging 4 miles without a walking break that soon
became a half marathon in a few months.
Friends got me to sign up for my first and second marathon. As my fitness improved I quickly moved into
trail ultras as a way to train for long hikes.
After getting injured on my second marathon I lost interest in speed and
went for distance. 50 miles, 100k, and
eventually 100 miles. After going vegan
and rapidly losing weight I started getting free speed which brought the idea
of speed for the first time. Joining
Queens Distance helped push me causing me to also improve as a runner as
well. As my main sport, I knew that no
matter how beat up the swim and bike left me I could do decent in the run.
Summer 2018
Summer came and my
focus was once again at what I love.
Trail ultras. The more rocks,
roots, and boulders, to climb on the way – the more fun. I went through three 50 mile races and did my
own 50k. It was August by the time I
finished and I decided to devote a month for tri training towards Lake
Placid. It wasn’t till I started the
training that I realized how little time that was. I crammed in as many as three workouts a day. During my ultras I realized that hiking
muscles were not the same as running muscles and if I thought about it further
I would have realized that running muscles are not the same as biking. My calves got more and more sore the more I
biked and I was trying to get faster at running at the same time. Finally after Percy I reduced running miles,
something hard for me to do to allow time for more tri training. The cramming eventually burnt me out about a
week before the race. Lucky it was in
time for Labor Day weekend which I was hoping to make it to. The weekend before Labor Day weekend I had a
great swim in the Long Island sound in LI.
It lead me to think that cycling was going to be my big weakness.
Pre-race week
The Monday before I
race I went to Lake Placid to swim in Mirror Lake to practice in the swim
course of the lake. It went badly as I
dealt with similar issues as the year before.
Later on the day I saw the transition area being set up and my stomach
turned. I started panicking and it took
me two days to mentally recover. I find
it weird that it was seeing them set up the transition area, not Mirror Lake
that caused me to panic. It was as if my
brain remembered how nervous I was last year and all those feeling came back in
full force. Convinced that I was going
to die I looked at my life choices that led me to here and I went through a
range of emotions. I think I just had to
sort through my thoughts.
I decided to drop
cycling and running and just focus on the swim.
I swam at Baruch for two mornings.
It’s the coldest pool I knew and I wanted to eliminate the shock of cold
water. I also swam continuous in pool
practice for the first time, I usually take a break after 50 meters or so.
I arrived at Mirror
Lake the day before the race at 7:30 am.
Around the same time that the race will take place the following day to
swim in similar conditions. By then a
lot of athletics were already swimming, biking, and running. A lot of swimmers swam 2 buoys down and then
cut across to the return lane buoys and swam back. About 15 minutes swim for them. Some Canadians complained about how warm the
water was. I swam back and forth about
80 meters out, not quite making it to the first buoy. I was still too scared. I swam for about 20 minutes. Then I biked out to the 86 and returned, this
way I got the last few miles of the cycling portion done. Cycled for about 35 minutes. During the bike I realized how stunning beautiful
the bike course is. I noticed it before
while driving but seriously, I won’t mind biking 112 miles with views like that
(hint hint). I still had some time so I
decided to do a 2 mile run at an easy pace to finish my own triathlon. Then ate brunch at a vegetarian place before
meeting up with Michael and Jackie at bib pickup.
Bib pickup went pretty
similar to last year except they didn’t weigh us this time. We got our numbers, filled out waivers, got
the bib and swim cap and then the shirt.
We then got our bikes and moved to the village/transition area. Compared to previous years there was a lack
of brand ambassador promoting products at the village. Guess they’re getting cheaper? (I remember the Timberman village two years
ago being more alive when I wasn’t even competing, a bit more dead last year and
pretty dead this year). I picked up the
Lake Placid Ironman bag which in the merch tent which I guess was available to
me last year as well but no one told me.
Dropped my bike off. I listened
to the “mandatory” pre-race briefing (they don’t record you attending so not
sure how mandatory it was). I found it
more informative than last year.
The cold was a big
concern, 32 degree in the morning so we went around shopping. Most stores were already sold out of cold
biking gear. Jackie and Michael then
went to get in quick swims. I was
tempted to join them but I knew I could only hurt myself at this point. Michael explained to me the difference
between mirror and clear googles which should explain how much of a newbie I
still am to swimming. Afterwards we
checked in to the Airbnb, went back into town.
Got food and ate with a beautiful view of Mirror Lake. We then went to Price Chopper to get some
beer and breakfast. Had a celebratory
toast and then a call with Cathy getting some last minute tips. Watch the Office 5k episodes before going to
sleep.
Race Day
We woke at 4:30 am and
left by 5:10 am. After parking we took a
shuttle bus to the start (it was a 5 minute walk but meh). Got our body marking and set up our
transition areas. We were informed that
this was the coldest Ironman start in history.
I then went out of transition to swim start for a no line porter potty
upon the advice of the transition area announcer. I wish I brought my camera because the fog/mist
coming out of the lake was an amazing sight.
They allowed us to have morning bags, a bag which you could drop off
right by the swim start. I didn’t pack
an extra jacket with me so I decided to wear my causal running shoes barefoot
and then use my causal socks as gloves.
I would save my jacket for the bike ride so I left it in
transition. On my way to swim start the
second time around, as transition area was closing I forgot my socks so I went
sockless on my shoes for no reason. I
met with Michael briefly and dropped off my shoes in the morning bag. I decided to go in the warmup area of the
water to get in a few strokes for confidence.
Michael went to the warming tent.
I intended to join him but after I was ready there was a long line of
people waiting to enter the swim blocking the entrance to the warming
tent. So I went back into the
water. Despite the water being warmer
than air temperature I was shivering. Swim
times are self-assigned, you could by pace rather than age and gender as many
other tris. If you go into a pace group
faster than you, you simply will get swam over by faster swimmers. It’s not pretty if you are slower. Had some small friendly conversations with
others waiting in the water. I joined
the last group and entered the water at 7:59.
The Swim
I had the choice of
using my long sleeve wet suit or the sleeveless wetsuit that I borrowed from
David Corona. The long sleeve wetsuit
might have kept me warmer in the wait for the start but I loved how easy it was
to take off the sleeveless wetsuit. I
didn’t notice a change in buoyance.
It should be known that
my form for open water swimming is horrible.
I breathe every stroke. I started
off swimming pretty well. Lake placid
has a cable three feet under the water that runs down the swim course. I avoided the battle for the line by being
one person left of the line where I could still see the line but not get swam
over by people right on top of it. I ended
up preferring to swim next to someone on the line. Easier to see a person than a cable. About a third of the way, I gobbled in some
water and instead of calmly breathing it out and getting back to my rhythm, I
went to my back to catch my breath. To
my surprise there was a pack of swimmers behind me and they all passed in my
break. I lost some time here dodging
them and getting back to the line. Back
to the front and at the turnaround point I found that the cable also does a
turn. I previously thought I would have
to sight till I got to the return buoys but not at all. I saw a man swimming backstroke the whole way
and wonder how he could tell where he was going. The return felt like forever and I started
feeling tired. My neck hurt, probably
from constantly turning my head right to breath. I flipped over for a break and then
continued. I started to switch between
my normal pool form where I breathe every 4 strokes and the every stroke open
water form I was doing. I noticed an
immediate difference in speed. About 400
meters left I got a cramp on my right calf.
I don’t usually cramp so I went on my back and kept my leg straight as I
attempted to teach myself backstroke. A
standup paddleboard person saw me and I swam over to take a break. After a minute I continued along my way. My right calf cramped again shortly after and
I once again went on back. The lady on
the standup paddleboard came back to help but I said I was okay. I figured the cramp would go away and I
wanted to keep moving. I don’t know how
to do backstroke (freestyle is the only form I know) but I know you could float
on your back and raise your arms halfway up and then bring back down to move a
bit. It was slow but I used that to keep
moving as the cramp went away. Back to
the front and a little later my left calf cramped up. Same thing again. Maybe I should have drank some electrolytes before
starting the swim. I soon left the
yellow cable. I found someone else
swimming and swam next to them. I used
them to sight for me instead of sighting for the last 100 meters or so. Lucky, they went the right way.
T1
Finishing the swim was
pretty emotional for me and I cried as I ran barefoot to my bike. I was also happy that people stuck around to
cheer for the back of the pack swimmers like me. My transition spot was close to the changing
tent so I opted to completely get off my wet clothes in the changing tent and
switch to my cycling clothes. I forgot
to bring my towel into the changing tent but to my surprise I was pretty dry
(water didn’t get in the wetsuit). After
the cycling clothes I put a jacket on and cycling gloves. Put the helmet on and off to the bike
ride. I think I did well on time despite
using the change room. I forgot my water
bottle in the car, I was planning on drinking an entire bottle of hammer heed
electrolyte drink but had to settle which my science in sport gel instead.
Forgetting the water bottle would have big consequences later on as the next
aid station where I got fluids was on mile 20 of the bike ride. I also decided to go sockless on my cycling
shoes. Something I practiced once before
40 miles bike ride with Jess and Omar.
Bike
I got my tri bike a
few weeks before the race and I still wasn’t set for it yet. I lower the seat and raise the handlebars a
bit but I still need to work on fitting and was still not use to changing the
gears on it. Still I knew I was faster
on the tri bike than on my road bike with the same amount of effort and I
wanted that free speed. My unfamiliarly
with changing gears caused me to stand up on all the uphills to use more
muscles to push through higher gears (this is something I do often on the
citibike, stand up on the ride up Queensboro bridge). I passed a lot of people but initially people
would pass me on the downhills. Then I
remember last year, Omar taught me about aerodynamics positing and how to get into
a faster position on downhills which helped.
I ate a hammer gel and cliff block without any water trying to get
calories in. At mile 20 I finally got to
an aid station. I had no idea what they
would look like. How do cyclist get
water during a race? The aid stations
are set up pretty much the same as running water stations except they give out
full bottles. The volunteers were set up
on the right side and lucky I’m more comfortable with my right hand being
free. I took a Gatorade bottle, even
with slowing down to grab one I felt like my hand hit the bottle a bit
hard. I didn’t have enough time to drop
it in my bottle cage so I freed up two fingers on my right hand and grabbed a
cliff block with those fingers. Pretty
successful on my first try. I
immediately drank half the Gatorade bottle.
Around mile 35 I decided to start pushing hard to the finish. I went to max gear and was going at around 20
miles per hour. It felt like I was
flying but it was too soon and by mile 40 I was burning out. At the next aid station I took a water bottle
but the Poland Spring sports bottle was thinner than the Gatorade sports bottle
and it didn’t stick to my C shape bottle cage.
I only was able to drink a quarter of it before it fell over (lucky no
one behind me). I also ate the cliff
block I got from the aid station. At the
final aid station I got another Gatorade bottle and drank a third of it. Then we approached the three bears climb
which I did the day before and I knew we were near the end. I wasn’t able to push harder however. Overall, I think could have done better on
the bike if I actually trained for it.
My inexperience caused me to push harder (like in an inefficient way)
and push to finish too soon. Also by
using a jacket over my cycling jersey I got cut off from my back pockets and
struggled a bit with using my jacket pockets with storage of gels. I would opt for using a gel flask instead too
to make it easier for one hand nutrition.
T2
T2 was quick. I took off my cycling shoes and put on hiking
socks. My darn tough hiking socks were
nice and wide so I didn’t have to struggle to quickly put them on as the usual
thin running shoes are. I had my running
shoes already double tied so I just slipped them on. I put my Queens Distance jersey on which
already had the bib pinned on it.
Quickly went to bathroom and took a cup of water before heading out. I had a cliff gel and a hammer gel in cycling
jersey pockets. I immediately notice it
bounce around and didn’t like it.
The run
My feet immediately
felt hot as I started running. I think
it might have been a combo of being sockless for 56 miles on the bike and then
putting on thick hiking socks. No
blisters developed though (but those are already extremely rare for me). I started off at a strong pace. Around 8 minutes in the start falling back to
8:30ish. I should have looked at a map
to know where to expect the aid stations.
The first one came too soon for me to eat a gel and drink water so I
just took some Gatorade. Got a gel in
the second one. At mile 2.6 I saw Jackie
on the out and back and gave a high five. A little bit later someone yelled QDR and then
I saw Michael shortly after too, I think 3.9 miles in for me. I felt pretty energized, seeing my friends
and that random QDR shout helped. I
bonked hard at mile 7 and I even started to feel dizzy. This was new! I think it was due to not drinking enough
fluids and not taking in enough nutrition in the bike ride. I did have to go to bathroom (which might
indicate I’m hydrated) before I started the run but that might have just been
from water ingested during the swim. Maybe
I drank too much lake water and ended up flushing out electrolytes? I struggled the rest of the way. I used a lot of my mental strategies –
thoughts of friends and family to push myself during the bike ride so burnt out
of those usual fallbacks, I went to the basic aim for a cone. After you reach the cone, aim for the next
one. I started drinking two gatorades at
the aid stations which helped me feel better.
I craved fruit but there was always someone blocking the one person
giving out fruit and I didn’t want to stop to take some. I didn’t recover, the race wasn’t long enough
for that but my finish probably looked a bit strong because I knew it was
over.
Finish
Upon finishing I felt
pretty weak and I would have probably collapsed but a volunteer walked with
me. She allowed me to lean a bit on to
her and then a EMS came to help me as well.
Off I went to the medical on the promise that there was broth
there. Surprise, it was chicken broth so
I had to settle on crackers to get some salt in. They checked my vitals and it was fine which
I knew. I got some soda and fruit
in. I was advised to eat whatever felt
good. I then went back to the finish
where they were some food. I was
disappointed at the lack of vegan options but I guess this isn’t an ultra, can’t
expect much. They had turkey and ham
subway sandwiches, pizza, mac and cheese and fruit. I’m too use to trail ultras where they have
real food at the end. I met with the group
shortly after and they helped me pack. They
finished more than 40 minutes before me!
After some finishing photos at the parking lot we drove to Poughkeepsie
for Thai food for dinner. Thanks to
Michael for keeping me company for most of the drive back down. It was really good hearing about how the race
went for him.
