Pre
I signed up for IMLP’13 at IMLP’12… just before the race last year. At that point I had signed up for 3 IronMan races (IMLP’12, IMNYC’12, IMLP’13) and had done none. Well, it kind of worked out. All three are in the books at this point with IMTX’13 add-on earlier this year. The next scheduled ones are IMMTB’13 (in 3 weeks) and IMLP’14 (yes, I did sign up again).
We (Ray, Darbi, Anna, and I) drove up to Lake Placid on Friday… Car handled us beautifully, despite the 3 bikes, 3 full sets of camping gear and 4 people.
Ray had signed up just recently for both IMLP’13 and IMMTB’13 on short notice — Asphalt Green had some entries to spare (so much my kind of decision). Looking forward to an awesome Mont Tremblant trip in less than 3 weeks, where we will try to one-up the car with 4 bikes!
We got to Lake Placid in time to check in, get 1 loop of the swim course in and have some surf and turf. The +10lb rule still held on the scale at check in. By the time the race meeting was over it was 8:45pm — way too late to drive 40 min to camp site and check in, as they close at 9pm. After a quick inventory of the options, I got to find out that my car’s passenger seat drops flat at 180 degrees. The feeling was similar to that one time when I flew first class to London ;)
Saturday was a day to:
- relax
- pack
- carbo-load
As you can see I tried to go by the book this year — no Nutella and bacon for race day nutrition! That did not stop me to get some upfront.
Then, just like that, I scored a room in a hostel with Rebecca and 3 of her friends, right at the start line. How cool is that!? We even got pre-race ice-cream at 10pm. I am checking this place out and definitely booking a room for next year with them!
The Race
This was supposed to be a “take it easy” race. With three weeks to Mont Tremblant, I was not going to set any PRs and risk my A race. I slept well (as usual), woke up before the 4:45 alarm by myself, and dropped off all gear bags.
Swim
This is the first year they did a wave start, and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I had to fight for a spot the whole time… with a mass start I get to fight a little bit in the beginning, but then I can swim mostly unobstructed. On the other hand, you draft all the time, which is one reason that I set my best IM swim split time so far at 1h12m (apart from IM NYC where the Hudson is doing the work for you). My Garmin once again claimed the longer 2.54 miles, but I don’t insist on having swam the most direct route. I did get knocked off in the beginning by some pretty big dude, got out of breath, and had to lie on my back for a minute, but recovered quickly and took it home. While in distress trying to catch my breath, I could not hold it and did the unthinkable — peed in my wetsuit. Remember that and don’t borrow it from me!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349977881
T1
Transition was seamless. I ran the 1/4 mile to it pretty hard and with no Nutella to take care of, I changed, put sunscreen on, grabbed my bike, and was out of there in about 12 minutes. Still kind of long, but it is not the 28 of last year.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349977884
Bike
This is where the fun happened. I would be tempted to say that whatever could go wrong did, but I think that statement would be far from the truth. First, my power meter died at mile 20, so I don’t have a full record of the awesomeness that followed. I was going by Erik’s recommendation and riding about 210W on the flats and up to 280W on the hills, while coasting on the downhills. The new 11-28 cassette I put on the back was doing a good job in allowing me to keep it under 280W on the hills. Ever since I broke my shoulder last year at 20mph, I am scared shitless to descend fast. My friend Anna Daugherty flew past by me as if I had stopped on the first descent!
At mile 39, while climbing a hill, Victoria broke down on me (physical breakdown, not nervous — I am done with dealing with drama queens at this point :) I might have gone a little harder than I should have, and I will try to be more gentle with her in the future, but bottom line is derailleur snapped into pieces.
Luckily we were taking it relatively slow to enjoy to full magnificence of the hill — 15mph or so, and we wobbled, but I was able to stop without crashing. At this point I was 2h02m into the ride for an average of a little below 20mph. The situation looked kind of hopeless. Athletes are very supportive of each other on the course and I got countless questions of the sorts of “are you OK?” and “do you need anything?”. On my response “a new derailleur”, the 99% answer was “Shit!”
They called tech support on me and after about 1h40m the help came. What happened next is bound to sound crazy to you, but keep in mind that at this point I pretty much thought I am done and the van will be taking me back. DNF. Luckily, after a quick look, the bike lady said that there is a glimpse of light… she could convert me to a single gear, so I can go on!! She asked me which gear I want, since I will not be able to switch at all :) Tough call, really tough call. The final climb was just ahead of me and then I had another full loop. After some fiddling, it seemed that we can’t choose any gear after all… the chain was either too tight or too lose and the only option was 39 x 15. Yes, this is what it looks like:
I was scared. Climbing the bears at IMLP is tough enough in the easiest gear… and this gear was not it. This was going to require some strength! In any case I had been resting for 1h40m, eating bars and drinking gatorade, so with new hope and full of energy, I killed the next 17 miles and the hills on them. There were a couple of Pros who fell behind and ware just slacking leisurely at 20mph on the flats but were going slow on the hills. I had to pass them on the hills multiple times because of my gear ratio, and when they saw my back wheel setup, I heard more of the same response (“Shit!”). For fairness, they added “make the best of it, and good luck!”. I was starting to see the light in the end of the tunnel.
The second loop was much harder… it starts with a steep climb of its own. The gear was too easy on the flats and descends, and I was not able to go above 19mph unless I was spinning like a maniac. But on the positive side, I had one less thing to worry about — I had no gears to switch. The final climb got the best out of me. Every hill, no matter how small was out of the saddle. It was either that or give up, because I could not maintain 50-60 rpm without it. But it got done, and for that I am grateful.
I have always though that people who ride single gear bikes are nuts. I still think that. But yesterday, I one-upped some non-negligible portion of them, and for what it is worth, I think I might have unlocked the “badass” achievement. IMLP bike course is no joke. And on a single gear, it is worse. Can you do it? I sincerely wish for you, from the bottom of my heart, that you never need to find out!
Official bike time was 8h11m or so. I paused my Garmin during the wait, so it shows it in the ~6h30m range. I am very happy with this split, single gear or not.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349977887
T2
My legs were shot, but I was ecstatic. If I could do what I had just done, I could do a marathon anytime. But I had to do it now. Luckily I had plenty of time. Maybe not to crawl it, but certainly to walk it. I changed, recharged, and hustled out of transition in a little less than 10 minutes. Again, there is what to wish about this time, but I’ll take it.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349977896
Run
The run course starts with a number of downhills, so I was jogging along. It felt better than ever, and even though I started a little fast (sub 9 min/mile) I settled somewhere between 10:30 and 11 min/mile and plodded along. The crowd was awesome and the aid stations were packed. Lotsa fresh fruit and ice. It seemed like I was well on my way to go under 13h total (excluding the 1h40m wait) and clock my first sub-5h marathon on IM, even if I walked quite a bit. I was torn between the walk and the run. I wanted to walk and enjoy the view, but I also was ready for the damn thing to be over with and I did feel strong enough to run. I let these internal fights settle on their own and some sort of balance emerged.
One of the highlights was Rebecca and Carolyn gave me at mile 12. I suppose it is only prudent to disqualify me for external assistance, since that beer fueled the next couple of miles pretty well.
The watch stopped at about 4h48m for the marathon, which I am satisfied with.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349977899
Post
I felt remarkably better after this one compared to the previous three. Official time was 14h34m, but in my book this will go as an unofficial PR of 12h55m! It is a great confidence booster for Mont Tremblant. If Victoria does not get moody again, and the stars align we will kill it!
After a quick gear collect, shower, and a quick Normatec action, we went back to the finish line to watch the final people cross the line. What a show… I regret for missing it previous years!
Monday was mostly book keeping. They had towed my car, despite being perfectly legally parked, because it was on a street where the bike course passes. I got some more Nutella crepes in, a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich and soon will head home. All in all a perfect weekend of finishing against the odds, pulling off a performance that I myself was not sure I could, and making some new friends!