Ironman Lake Placid

The title of this post should really be "Stuck in T1", because that's as much progress as I've made in my race report...

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Pre-Race

My extreme lower back had been bothering me on the bike for a few months, but I had learned to deal with it. A few weeks before IMLP it started bothering me when I ran, too. Not sure if it was just my hypersensitivity or if the injury had in fact worsened, but either way it was unacceptable. Went in for a cortisone shot on Tuesday. My doctor pulled out my MRI and confirmed that not only did I have a protrusion in the disc between L5 & S1 (as he had originally diagnosed), but I also had a tear in the disc between L4 & L5. Fabulous! Just what I wanted to hear 5 days before race day. Give me the juice! The shot wasn’t so much in my back as it was deep in my crack. The whole prepping-of-the-area was an experience I won’t soon forget. The pain relief was instantaneous, but replaced with soreness and stiffness. I’ll take it.
Got up to LP on Wednesday, went for a quick dip in the lake to test the water. It was warm. Definitely made me glad to have switched to a sleeveless wetsuit. Spent the rest of the week doing minimal activity, icing my back, avoiding the nervous energy that had taken over my condo. Skipped the group run on Thursday, biked the run course and finished up over the bears back into town on Friday. I had never felt so sparkly spinning up those hills on fresh legs. Splashed around in the water some more on Saturday. Overall, it was an extremely low-key few days, and I was cool as a cucumber. Spent a lot of money at the expo. Suddenly everything seemed to be a necessity, especially the $25 bike tent to keep my bike dry on Saturday night (nevermind that I will be wet myself when I get on it).

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Race Day

Woke up at 4:00am, started loading up with calories – pb&j, pb & banana, gatorade, coffee. Got my stuff together and got out of the condo ASAP. Someone suggested we have a little prayer circle of sorts before we left, I opted out claiming it was not quite up my spiritual alley. Walked to transition by myself, jamming to the iPod. I still wasn’t nervous, until I encountered a large puddle of vomit on Main Street. Yep, that’s about how I felt. I started shaking. Got body-marked, unwrapped my bike, checked out my transition bags, all the while avoiding teammates. I was finally nervous and didn’t want to put myself over the edge. Found my parents at the Mobile station. I wish I had a camera. They looked like the accidental tourists, and had fashioned rain gear out of garbage bags to wear under their clothes. I loved it! It meant so much to me that they were there. Ross tried to get me to hug them, but we opted for a firm Conlan handshake instead. He also commented on my mom’s great legs. Dropped the bags at special needs and hooked up with Felicia, et al. The nerves were gone as quickly as they’d appeared.
Head over to the lake and it finally dawns on my how huge this thing really is. Somewhere along in my training I lost sight of the fact that finishing an IM is a big deal. I think it was about the time when I stopped worrying about completing and started thinking about competing. I knew that I was going to be an Ironman by the end of the day, and that was very cool! Hung out in the water with Felicia, Larry and Wade, found our fans on shore and posed for pictures. So happy to be with friends.

Swim
Goal: 1:20:00
Actual: 1:23:26

I started about halfway off the dock, a third of the way back. They weren’t kidding about that draft – as soon as people started moving, I was sucked right along. There were a lot of feet and elbows all over the place, but no as bad as I’d expected. The first loop was uneventful, though I never saw the line. I was back on the beach before I knew it, in just over 38:00. That’s my fastest 1.2 time. The crowd had definitely thinned on loop two, but it was still too crowded to find the line. I stayed wide right, which was a bad idea. I should have just fought a better position. This is supposed to be one of the easiest open water swim courses, yet somehow I managed to get lost. I was all over the place. After the turn I forced my way onto the line and sat there for the rest of the way. Minimal contact, no sighting, I should have done this from the start.

T1
Goal: 0:10:00
Actual: 0:06:29

Found myself a stripper and ran through the crowd. I was focused. Didn’t see anyone I knew until I was entering transition, when I tripped and nearly fell flat on my face right in front of my parents. Grabbed my bag and headed to the tent. Saw Felicia changing outside – such an exhibitionist. I went in and realized why she was outside. It was dark and humid. I found a volunteer at the exit and she became my personal assistant (helped me with my arm warmers, lubed my feet – you know, the usual). Grabbed my bike and I was on my way.