TEAM IRONTOM: August 2010

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

STOAKED OFF-ROAD TRIATHLON OR XTERRA HALF BLIND

Stoaked Off-Road Triathlon or Xterra Half Blind

Overall it was pretty nice day for a race. It was cool in the AM but not excessively so. I was at the water with plenty of time and hoped that my whole two weeks of training prior to the race would pay off. (I wouldn’t advise anyone of this method but didn’t have time from the beginning of summer until later July.) The race started and I started out toward the end of the pack to avoid what happened anyways. I ended up in a big crowd of people and got anxious. I had to swim with my head out of the water for a bit and then I decided to head to the outside and this helped quite a bit. After that I didn’t have any problems.

I exited the water feeling pretty good about where I was located within the pack. This ended at the transition out of the water. I lost a decent amount of time changing into sneakers before going by the timer. Twenty eight plus minutes. Oh well. Next I headed to where our bikes where located which was quite a few hundred yards away and up a decent size hill, change into bike shoes and head off. While in transition I notice I wasn’t seeing quite well and thought I had a contact that slid up in my eye socket. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and I went through the rest of the race with just one contact. It made some of the technical sections of the bike course more technical. The bike course also seemed different than when I did the race two years ago with a different entry area. It had as much or more single track and a lot more hills than last time. It was a fun ride though if a bit growling due to the lack of training. An hour fifty minutes plus.

Next was the run. Of the three disciplines it is the one I had the most training in in the prior two weeks. (Unless you include commuting to work on bike.) The run was the usual route they’ve had in years past through gravel paths and a big, hilly field. Fifty plus minutes for a 3 hour ten minute plus overall finish. Quite tired in the end but I finished and had a heck of a lot of fun.

TOMmy

Sunday, August 1, 2010

7,018 CALORIES LATER…..

Waiting for athlete 1884

Is it crowded enough for you?

…, tired, but elated, I crossed the finish line of the 2010 Ironman Lake Placid. But, before going any further I wanted to say thank you to all my family and friends who were with me in-spirit, in-person, or on the Internet to cheer me on.

The day (Sunday, July 25th) started for me at 3AM with a quick shower and a 20-minute carbo-loading of about 2,000 calories. There was a light rain drizzle and it was anybody’s guess what weather will unfold for the race because Lake Placid is well-known for rapidly changing weather conditions.

The gun went off at 6:45AM for the professionals and at 7AM for the age-groupers. After about 300 meters of being swam over and under I found my rhythm and enough open water to finish the 2.4 mile swim in 1 hr. 12 min. A quick wetsuit peal-off by friendly volunteers set me off for a 400 m sprint to the transition. Following a slip on a wet runway and about 8 minutes later I mounted my bike for a 112 mile journey. I remember having this great sense of physical and mental freshness as I started descending the access ramp onto the main road.

I felt great climbing the first hill out of Lake Placid, as those who swam faster started coming back to me on the bike. The famous six-mile downhill to Keene recorded a speed of 47 miles/hour on my speedometer. Definitely, not the time to catch a flat or have any sort of a misfortune. I continued strong for the two bike loops despite the somewhat demoralizing head-wind from Wilmington back to Lake Placid in the last 10 miles of each loop.

A quick transition from bike-to-run put me in the final stretch of the race. I continued feeling very good. My legs felt fresh and eager to run. Only 26.2 miles to run, I thought, as I passed the cheering spectators lining up the downtown streets. My strategy was simple. Eat, drink, and take-in enough electrolytes to prevent muscle cramps and keep mental focus. All worked very well that day and the last mile and a half on the run was just amazing. It has been a little while since I had as strong race such as Ironman Lake Placid. Totally elated and full of emotions, I entered the Olympic oval for the last 195 meters. Crossing the finish line with my family and friends watching me there or live on the Internet made this race even more special. My finish time was 10 hrs. 43 min., good to place 29th out of 360 athletes in the M45-49 age group.

This is my last year before aging up to M50-54 in 2011, but before this happens I have two more Iron races this year: The Montreal Esprit Iron in September and The Great Floridian at the end of October and I plan to show up for both of them as I did in Lake Placid. Again, thanks to those who cheered for me.