I'm really happy with the way my day turned out in Lake Placid. The whole day wasn’t hunky-dory, but no Ironman ever is, and I was very happy with the final result. I finished 9^th overall and did get a roll-down slot for Kona, so I was very satisfied with a top 10 finish and a chance to go to the big show in Hawaii.

     The biggest victory for me was the way my body was able to come back on the second half of the run. I've never had a turn around like that before in a race. I was in a really dark place for the first part of the run and thought my day was over. But re-learned the classic lesson in Ironman, no matter how much you want to quit, just keep pushing on and your day may turn around.

     First of all, I absolutely love the race in Lake Placid. Between the people in the town, the city itself, the race venue, and the race production, it is truly one of the most special races around. Besides, how often do you get to race right next to the location where the greatest sporting event in the last 100 years took place? The arena where the “Miracle on Ice” took place in 1980 sits right above transition.

     Ironman USA Lake Placid was my first Ironman five years ago, so coming back to the place where my racing began was really special. Also adding to the experience was my family and friends at the race. My parents and aunt and uncle came in to watch the race. Also my good friends from Austin James Bonney and Desiree Ficker were racing and James wife Liz was out there as well, so it made the race much more fun to have friends and family around.

     The only issue with Lake Placid is that the weather is pretty unpredictable and can get pretty wet. On race day, it was cold and dumped buckets of rain all day. That was by far the rainiest day I've ever been outside in. It did not let up all day. I remember thinking during the first 30 min of the bike, “it can’t rain this hard all day, it’s just a cloud that’ll blow over.” Little did we know the cloud covered three states and would take ten hours to blow over. But those kind of days, you know it’s hard for everyone racing, so you try not to think about how miserable it is for you…..there’s another 2000 people feeling the same way. That’s also not to mention the spectators who can’t keep moving like we were to stay warm. 

     I was satisfied with my swim. I came out in 57:40, which was a couple minutes slower than I expected, but was within the acceptable range I had set. I actually didn’t swim alone, which was a first. I was with a group of two or three other guys and I think Des was with our group for most of the swim. The swim in Mirror Lake is one of the nicer ones in the Ironman world. There’s a little cable running about 6 feet under the water along the course to which the buoys are tied. If you can find the cable, you don’t have to look up to sight, because the course follows the cable.

Pro swim start. Photo by Lou Reuter. http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

Agegroup wave ready to go. Photo by Lou Reuter. http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

     One thing I found funny was that on the first swim lap, about half way back towards the turn around, I caught a wave in the face. It was odd because the lake was flat and there weren’t any boats. It was the size of a boat wake. Then I realized that the wave was from the mass start of 2000 swimmers on the other side of the course. It was the funniest thing. I never imagined the mass start would produce that size of wake.

I'm ready for swim loop 2. Photo by Don Hare. http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

     When we got out of the water, it was officially pouring rain. I was feeling good and when my parents yelled to me what position I was in, I was satisfied because it was the same position I had after the swim in Ironman Louisville last year. I had a pretty slow transition, but I wanted to make sure I grabbed everything I needed. About 8 male and female pros all got on the bike within sight of each other. I felt like the first five miles, everyone was hammering. About three guys passed me in those miles. I felt like my legs weren’t warming up. Guys were passing me and I didn’t feel like I was dogging it, so I tried to stay patient. It can be a bit of a mind game at that point; you have a whole day of racing ahead of you, everyone around you is hammering, and you’re having a hard time warming up. Somewhere after mile 10, I remember finally feeling like myself on the bike. Then by mile 15, I remember I started having fun and began reeling in people one by one.

     We turned on to the out-n-back portion of the bike between miles 30 and 40 and everyone got a chance to see where each other was, who was in what position, how close the next group was, and how everyone looked. Actually, the second bike loop is where you get to really see how everyone looks. Only 30 miles into to race, everyone looks fresh. At that point, I think I was somewhere around 18^th or 19^th place, but there were a few groups of guys just up the road almost within contact. Within the next 30 minutes I caught and moved through a couple small groups of guys.

     I felt amazing coming through downtown at the end of loop one before starting the second loop. I came through the half-way point about 7 minutes ahead of my goal time for the loop. But almost as soon as I started the uphill section starting the second loop, I got really tired. I didn’t know if I had pushed too hard at the beginning, if the cold rain was getting to me, or whether my nutrition was off. Actually, a week after the race, I still don’t know. I suffered on the second bike loop. I biked it about 11 minutes slower than the first. After the race, I was looking up the guys bike splits and almost everyone biked their second loops about 8-12 minutes slower than there first loops, so my difficulty was normally. I decided to back off a little when I wasn’t feeling well because I didn’t want to put myself in too much debt before the run. The end of the bike course looked like a triage for the male pro field. Everyone was suffering in last section trending up hill for the final 10 miles. I felt bad when I saw my friend James. He had been up front in the race and then had gotten sick on the second loop, so he was biking his way in to call it a day.

     I got off the bike feeling okay, and ran my first two miles a little below goal pace, but well within my “acceptable” range. I came off the bike somewhere around 8^th or 9^th place so I was really happy about my biking in the nasty conditions. After two miles, my pace slowed WAY down and my lower back muscles felt like there were daggers in them. I've never had my back hurt like that before. I was in a ton of pain and could barely stand up straight. From miles 3-6, I had to stop and stretch my back several times. It was so painful even to shuffle, I almost dropped out, I mean I was REALLY close. Mac Brown, a buddy I had met this season, passed me and told me to hang in. At the turn around at mile 6, I saw James had decided to start the run and was just behind.  I really didn’t want to feel like a quitter and drop out, so in my head I came up with the plan that I’d keep shuffling and at mile 13, if James was still there, I’d see if he wanted to walk the second loop of the run together and just enjoy the day (not that he’d want to walk, but those are the goofy thoughts you have during a race).

     Then somewhere around mile 7, a young pro from Denmark caught me. As he passed, he saw me struggling and said “stick with it, you never know what’s going to happen up in front of the race.” I decided to try to keep pace right behind him. After a few minutes, my back started loosening up, then I told myself to move up next to him, and I did. He and I talked and my back kept loosening up. He was struggling a bit, so we became our own support group. Pretty soon we were running an okay pace (not my goal pace, but I was MOVING FORWARD). He and I ran and worked together and we caught one guy ahead of us. Then I started feeling really good and decided to pick it up even more (why not, I had already almost dropped out, so I had nothing to lose). He told me to go ahead because he was hurting.

     So from miles 13-16 I started dropping miles faster than I expected to run if I were to have a great run. I didn’t know what was going on, but I took advantage of how great I felt. Then somewhere around mile 17 the normal Ironman fatigue-heavy-legs set in and I ran the last 5 miles at what felt like a crawl of a pace. It was more of a gradual slowing. I was passed by one person, but knew I was still in the top 10, so I was trying as hard as I could not to slow any more. It’s funny how when you’re suffering near the end of a race, how quickly your mind can shift from “let’s go catch that guy,” to “just don’t let anyone catch me.” I came into the finish in 9^th place and a happy boy.

There is no better feeling than the finish chute of an Ironman. Photo by Lou Reuter. http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

The end of a good day at the office. Photo by Lou Reuter. http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

     That course and conditions just decimated the pro ranks. I couldn't believe how many guys dropped out that day. I was very happy about how I almost dropped out but was able to turn it around and salvage the run. It was a HUGE mental victory and a good lesson for future Ironman races. So now it’s time to recover and get ready for Kona!

     I would like to thank Little Caesars Pizza for their belief in me and support of my racing. I’d also like to thank Jack and Adam’s Bicycles for their endless assistance. Additionally, I want to express gratitude to Source Endurance and my personal coach from Source, Derick Williamson for our continuing work and helping to foster my growth as a person and an athlete. I am also grateful to Patrick and Tim McGrath for their support of my racing. I’d also like to thank Xterra Wetsuits, Trifacts.com, Advanced Rehabilitation, The Genesis Agency, and Hill Country Running Company. I’d also like to thank the Adirondack Daily Enterprise for many of the race photos on this blog entry. Without the support of my sponsors, family, and friends, it would not be possible for me to continue my pursuit of racing; I am appreciative of their unending support and encouragement.