Lake Placid 2007

After much preparation and planning, Lake Placid has come and gone. lots of lessons taken away from this one:

PRE-RACEi left san diego late wednesday night, arriving in albany thursday around noon. my dad, sister and nieces were waiting for me. no bike, that could be a problem, fortunately they have a couple days to work out the details on that, so off to lake placid we go.

it's raining pretty steady for most of the first evening. got my registration packet and checked in to our cabin thursday, ate a bit of dinner. the airlines dropped my bike off during dinner, so things are on the up and up. sleep was a bit disrupted the first night.

got up and lounged around for a bit, it rained off and on most of the day, so outdoor activity will be limited (san diego has spoiled me). drove parts of the bike course and part of the run course (i had some problems accurately following the bike course). what i did see looks like it will suit my training very well, no real tough climbs, a couple moderate grades, but all said and done, should be a fast bike course.

as later evening rolled around, most of my family began arriving, with the last couple trickling in around 2 or 3 in the morning ( i was in a haze of half sleep half awake).

saturday morning was rather uneventful, i rode the last 12 miles of the bike course to the pancake breakfast and bike drop off. this is the worst of the climbing, and isn't bad at all, fairly fast and should be fun. spent much of the day enjoying the sun and relaxing with the family.

RACE DAY
woke up around 4, had some breakfast, bagel and infinit drink before heading over to the swim start. got to the transition area dropped off my bags, put my nutrition on my bike and filled my water bottles, then headed over to mirror lake.

SWIM
whoever thinks starting 2000+ swimmers in a mass start must enjoy watching salmon swim upstream. each leg is a 2loop affair, and it took all of the first 1.2 miles (split around 0:31:30) for me to find some open water on the swim. it was entirely too crowded to find a pair of feet to hang on. after running and getting back in for the second loop, i was able to hit a good groove, i wound up hooking on a couple different pairs of feet on the way out, then coming around the turnaround, i found a new set of feet that went very wide on the turn (on the bright side, lots of open water 20-30 meters outside the buoys). i worked my way back towards the course and picked up the effert the last 200-300 meters coming out of the water slightly slower than ideal, but still in good form (1:03:39), the strippers had some issues getting my suit off, no worries, it's a long day, what's 10-20 seconds. a nice jog into transition where i am excited to have my bike waiting at the end of the row for me to pick up.

T1
through the transition tent, number, helmet sunglasses, good to go, all right, now to pick up my bike. unfortunately my number was not relayed to the bike grabbers, so i had to fish mine out of the racks on my own.

BIKE - loop 1
here is where the fun really starts, the beginning has some short steep descents followed by hard turns, fun stuff, i really enjoy these and they provide me with an opportunity to make up a little time, coming out of town it's time to shift into the big ring and get things moving. bad news, that frayed cable i was going to change before the race, didn't change it, and it's broke (<5miles into the bike and breaking things already, good times).

so now i'm on keen lookout for the sag wagon, or somebody that may be carrying a derrailuer cable. there are some light rollers, then a long fast descent over the first 20 miles. despite not having a big ring, only 2 people pass me on the descent, and i am hanging with a pack of riders through the first 2 aid stations, feeling pretty good. i decide to stop at the 3rd station and see about getting my cable replaced, the downhills and flats will be worth the downtime to replace it. no luck, while i'm waiting for them to check for a cable, i eat several bananas, take a bathroom break, and down some water. no cable. ok, looks like today will be a lot of high cadence work.
while i was checking on my cable, dozens of people blow by the aid station.

hmmm, that's unfortunate. all right, back on the bike, back to picking up places. the climb out of jay is pretty good, i'm picking off people as anticipated. in a little bit, there will be an out and back section for me to guage how much time i lost to the group i was with up until i stopped for a derrailleur cable. so to the best of my guesses, i'm 15 minutes down form the group i was with. 40 miles into the race, now i've got to pee pretty bad, hope there are toilets soon. nothing around, so i improvise, now i'm a bathroom break and a 10-15 minute rest at an aid station on loop 1. coming back into lake placid was an absolute blast, several tight turns, ups and downs, a real technical section, i was moving through here picking off people. despite the misfortunes thus far, i was able to split at the 1st loop at 2:46:22, a little off pace, but once the stops are factored in, i'm golden.

BIKE - loop 2
still feeling pretty good, legs are a little heavy from the fun i had going through town, but once i get down into keen (the bottom of the long downhill), they will be ready again. uh oh, i'm way ahead of pace on my nutrition, i'm set to run out around 80 miles or so at this rate, and i've been conservative taking in the calories. instead of being smart and grabbing all the calories i can at the aid stations i blank and am just picking up water. then around 80 miles it happens, nutrition is gone, and my legs go flat, just before i get to start climbing back out of the lowest point on the course. jolly good.

so the climb is a bit painful and slow, and of course i neglect to get any nutrition at the 1st aid station i pass, so it's another 10 miles and i need to start taking on nutrition. next aid station i grab 3 or 4 gels, stash them in pockets and grab water, refill the water, start eating gels. repeat at the next aid station. around mile 95 my legs start to come around, and i start to return to form. attacking more so on the hills, still a bit leary because i am far behind on caloric intake. the last aid station i take another 3 or 4 gels and space them out over the remaining 6 miles. one more pass through town, a bit slower than last time, but still fast and fun. a great way to finish off the bike, i come into T2 with a big smile on my face despite having used 5:52:08 to complete the 112 mile bike (3:05:45 for the 2nd loop).

T2
hand off my bike, grab my T2 bag, and into the tent, shoes on, helmet off, good to go, except that pesky cramping in my left hamstring, so i get it rubbed out before setting out on my run.

RUN - loop 1
coming out of T2, i'm feeling pretty good, the run starts with a good dowhill, then about 1 mile of flat and a 2nd good downhill. as usual, i let gravity do the work, and am going by people. i turn down river road, it's about 3 miles out to the turn around, and now the tricky part, i need to keep a nice comfortable pace that i can maintain for the next 3+ hours, i settle in to a pretty comfortable pace, and am taking in 2 cups of liquid at each aid station, and a gel here and there. at 8 miles, i am feeling pretty good and go by the personal message sign (my family took this opportunity to tell me they love me, a very good pick me up at a needed time), at 10 miles, i get to start up the hills, when i reach the top, i get a boost of energy, so the pace is picked up and held pretty solid until mile 14, then things begin to crumble again. the first 13 miles were split at 1:55:38 (a bit behind pace, but i'm running)

RUN - loop 2
the downhills aren't quite as fast as they should be, and the flats are a shuffle, not really much more than a brisk walk, but still in the form of a jog. i'm parched, so i up the liquid intake (2 gatorade cups, and 2 waters at each aid station). throw in a gel pack to try and up the energy levels. now it's time to see how deep i really want to dig? is it time to walk??
1 mile at a time, mile 15, and i get to turn around at mile 18, i'm shuffling, struggling to keep moving forward and battling the desire to walk. so the games begin, if each aid station is 50m long, and there are 26 in the race, i walk every one of them in it's entirety, that means i've walked 1300m, just over 3/4 of a mile, so if i'm at mile 16, and i walk the rest of the way, that's less than 11 miles of walking, this continues up until mile 20, where i see the motivating sign from my family again.

that provides a little boost, and the pace quickens for about 1 or 2 miles. just before i get into the uphills again, it's time for another bathroom break (2 for the run). now it's the last bit of challenge, uphill, then it flattens and my pace quickens a bit. still only walked the aid stations and maybe 1/4 mile of the regular course. here comes the last of the uphills, my sisters are there to run with me for a bit, that helps. now if at absolute worst, i can wind up walking 2 miles, not gonna happen.

the worst of it is i have to go by the finish turn off, past this by almost 1 mile, and i get to turn around again to come back to it. this is usually where i shine, normally i throw in a good kick for the last mile, and a sprint to the finish. past mile marker 25, and it's time to pick up the pace, but it doesn't go, i'm still shuffling, though it may be slightly faster, it's still shuffling. i'm usually good to pick up 6 or 7 places in the last mile, but not today, i am humbled yet again, and content to shuffle into the last 200meters, as i step onto the speed skating oval, i find a bit of energy and start my finishing sprint, my niece and dad join me for the last 150meters. 2nd loop split at 2:34:33 for a 4:30:11 marathon (a personal best, but still a far cry from where i was hoping to be).

POST RACE
as i said lots of things learned, prior to lake placid, i had been very stringent about keeping my gear in top form; this time, i let a couple things slide, and they bit me. previously, i'd always carried an extra 25% of my calculated caloric requirements, today, i had to have botched the numbers and came in 25% short, and didn't acknowledge it and begin correcting until it was too late.

so when i tally the damage, broken cable (did this save my legs for the run? or cause me to spin out burning up more than i anticipated? i don't know and don't particularly care). the important thing is i had several downs, which i managed to pull through and come out with significant improvements over past experiences.

a big thank you and i love you to all that came to support me, including those there in spirit and my thoughts.