A tale of two races (Part II)

I did everything I could to recover from my Saturday race. I used The Stick, stayed off my feet most of the day, took a nap and even took a hot bath with some fancy bath salts that my wife had. I don't know what I was expecting to feel like but my muscles still felt pretty beat up from the intense Saturday effort.

It was an early start to the day when I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. My alarm went off at 4 a.m. but my eyes were already open as I lay in bed. After a traditional pre-race breakfast of Green Goodness and protein powder, my family and I were out the door and arrived in South Berwick right at 5 when transition was supposed to open.

Pre-race was pretty laid back. I had a sweet transition area spot at the end of a rack leaving plenty of room for my gear. I had enough time to catch up with the other GSTC'ers racing, Dave and Tom, along with a few other folks I knew from the local tri-scene.

The Swim
After a first place age group swim the previous day I was definitely confident at the swim start. Probably too confident. Instead of going out strong and steady I red-lined for the first 100 yards and found myself hyper-ventilating. After laying off the effort for about 15 seconds and regaining my composure I went back out and finished the swim strong. I ended up 7th out of the water in my age group but pretty sure I lost a couple of places with my early pacing mistake. Overall, I was still happy with a sub 28 minute 1.2 mile swim.

The Bike
The first few miles of the bike is when I started to realize it might be a painful day. Even my intentional effort to spin easily over the first few miles of flat roads, the residual muscle soreness was still very present from Saturday's effort. I tried to get into a steady rhythm and eventually got into a groove and did my best to not work the leg muscles too hard.

I did go through several bouts of doubt as to how I would respond on the run. I tried not to let too many negative thoughts build up about what the run when going to be like if I had sore muscles from going easy on the bike. I was thankful that I did some reading about David Goggins and his perspective on dealing with pain and suffering while racing.

I also kept repeating to myself one of my favorite perspectives on keeping a positive attitude: that nothing we do or feel has any inherent meaning, only the meaning we give it. I could either commiserate with myself about the running pain I was anticipating, or, figure out a way to embrace it and help to feed my drive to finish.

The Run
Thankfully, I managed not to commiserate. However, I did suffer. With every stride my muscles ached but I was able to maintain my nutrition and hydration so that the only thing I had to do was focus on blocking out the leg pain and keep putting one leg in front of the other.

One thing I did better in the race than any other that I can remember is get hyper-focused in the present moment. Typically in longer races, my mind is racing with everything from calculating my pace to watching my heart rate. I have a hard time finding that place I can usually get to in a training run, where a 2 hour run is done before I know it. This race was different. As much as I hurt, I never walked and there were several points where I didn't really remember any details about the previous mile or two.

I do remember virtually every step of the last two miles. I saw the mile 11 marker on the road, my energy level felt good and my hydration felt good, so I went as hard as I could the race of the race. It hurt so so much, but if you are a reader of this blog, then you know about my first and only DNF six weeks earlier, and finishing this race (the 2nd in 2 days) became what I perceived as an emotional must.

As I crossed the line I could feel the lump in my throat grow and eyes start to well up. My wife and son were waiting for me at the line and I couldn't hold it back any longer as I gave each of them a huge hug. I know they didn't care whether or not I DNF'd in Lake Placid, however, they had both sacrificed so much to let me train for my races this year that I was super motivated to finish this race and be able to hug them at the end. Something I wanted to do so badly in Lake Placid but never got the chance to.

A couple of good friends, Paul and Tony, were also there at the line. It was especially good to see them both because they were also in Lake Placid. I had spent the equivalent of several days training with Paul preparing for the event (and he had an incredible inaugural Ironman performance). I think he had a unique perspective on how disappointing Lake Placid was for me and how satisfying it was to finish the Pumpkin Challenge.

My triathlon journey has taught me some valuable lessons this year. I'm expecting next year's journey will be just as valuable!

A tale of two races (Part I)

The original plan for the year was to do the Patriot Half Iron race as prep for Ironman Lake Placid. Knowing the time it takes to train for an Ironman, my original intent was to take the rest of the year off from racing after Lake Placid.

However, after an unexpected and disappointing Ironman result I was compelled to redeem myself and signed up for the Great Pumpkin Challenge. The challenge consists of a sprint distance on Saturday followed by a half iron distance on Sunday. While I finished both races, they were two very different experiences.

The Sprint
My training for the two weeks leading up to race weekend was a little spotty. Work and pool closings have kept my schedule a little tough to manage. So, I really wasn't sure what to expect on race day. My plan for the Saturday race was to go comfortably hard and push it a little if I was feeling really good.

The Swim
The swim was 1/3 of a mile and the way others in my age group were looking to jump the gun I figured it was going to be a fast one. One of the biggest benefits of going through an Ironman mass start swim with 2,400 other racers is that I feel completely comfortable getting to the front and mixing it up to try and move into clean water. I did just that and found that I was able to find a clear line quickly. I saw some other swimmers on either side of me for the first 50 yards or so and then I just saw what I thought was another racer from my age group about 20 yards up ahead. I was feeling good so I pushed it a bit hoping to try and catch up to them. I thought it would be kind of nice to be 2nd or 3rd out of the water.

I never caught that person in front of me but chasing them down helped me nail a good time. I would later find out that the racer in front of me was one of the Elites and I was actually the first swimmer out of the water in my age group! I've only been swimming since I took up triathlon six years ago so I was super excited to have such a good result.

The Bike
I've ridden the bike course a couple of times prior to race day so I was comfortable where I could push and where to back off some. Starting in the 2nd wave behind the elites, and being first out of the water I was able to keep track of who in my age group was passing me (For those that don't know, the age of each racer is written on their calf prior to the start). I was feeling pretty good and was surprised to only see 2 others in my age group passed me during the bike. I was even more surprised to catch up to 2 of the female elite racers that started 1 minute ahead of me. Either they were having a really bad day or mine was going better than I thought.

The Run
As I roll into T-2 I'm still feeling really good and it hits me that I'm currently in 3rd place in my age group! I've never been in this position before! I'm used to finishing maybe in the top third or top half of a race but getting on the podium hasn't ever been on my radar. Now, I'm starting a three mile run in 3rd place but I have no idea how far back anyone else in my age group is. Because the age is written on the back of the calf so you don't know if your losing a position until someone has already passed you.

Even though I'm pretty lean right now from my Ironman training schedule, I'm a larger than average for a triathlete at 190 pounds, which has always been a disadvantage on the run. But, I kept to my plan of going comfortably hard until the 1 1/2 mile mark when I heard footsteps behind me and saw a "35" on the back of the calf of the racer who just passed me. Dang, he's in my 35 - 39 age group! I was feeling good but started to have an internal dilemma. Do I try and keep up and hope I don't over do it before the half-ironman I would be doing is less than 24 hours???

My competitive juices temporarily ruled the day and I picked up the pace to stay with him as long as I could, which ended up being until the 2 1/2 mile mark when I looked at my heart rate monitor and realized that I was pushing the red zone. My more sensible side took over I backed off a bit but it was enough to lose contact. One more person from my age group before crossing the line at a sub 7 minute/mile pace and about 2 minutes faster than last year's time. This was good enough for 5th place out of 45 in my age group and 27th out of 433.

For now I'll just say that the Sunday half ironman the next day was a physically and emotionally exhausting experience. So, in order to do it justice I'm going to tackle that one tomorrow because right now I'm going to have a Guinness, eat more food and hopefully fall asleep on the couch.

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report: Run

You may have already read the end result of my run. But, I wanted to cover in more detail the time leading up to the pre-mature end and if you'd like to read the details, they were posted the day after the race.

For how the race ended, I felt surprising good on the start of the run. Once I got off the bike I walked briskly to the transition area. I had just ridden 112 miles, and yes the legs were fatigued, but it definitely felt like all the long rides and hill training I had done for the past 7 months had paid off. The idea of running a marathon was still a little daunting, but seemed very possible. And, I finished in about 20 minutes faster than my goal time. This gave me some extra fluff time on the run to try and reach my time goal of breaking 13 hours.

Transition went smoothly and I was in and out much quicker than my 2006 race. I remember thinking that this gives me an extra few minutes to do the marathon and still make my goal time.

One of the best moments of the race was heading out of the transition tent for the run. Just after exiting the transition tent I saw Amy and Connor. I hadn't seen them for over 6 1/2 hours so it was a nice emotional boost for me. As soon as you leave the tent there are spectators everywhere lining the streets. It's like this for the first 3 or 4 miles of the race which makes it hard not to go out too fast because of the adrenaline, but I stayed conservative and tried to just keep a steady pace.

Once you pass the crowd lined streets of the first several miles there is an out-and-back section after a left hand turn onto River Road, which as the name suggests, spends most of the time following alongside the Ausable River. It's a winding road and as my buddy Paul puts it, you kind of feel like your in Groundhog Day. After a while, every bend you go around looks the same as the other and your not quite sure when you'll get back.

I still felt pretty good heading out for the first time on River Road. Though this section of the course becomes mentally challenging. It's flat for the most part, however, except for the aid stations there are virtually no spectators and for me its when the demons start to come out which started at about mile 10 of the run.

I didn't quite understand why I was starting to feel a little mentally beat down. Of course I felt physically beat up, but I had been training for seven months and had put several 15 - 20 mile runs in the training log, most were after a four to six hour bike ride the previous day.

At about mile 11, the first loop back through town begins which is about 3 miles total. I went through some ups and downs during this time but mostly I began to feel myself sliding to a place I was beginning to get nervous about.

In two previous races, a half Ironman and after my 2006 Ironman Lake Placid finish, I ended up once in the hospital and once in the medical tent after passing out at the finish line. Both times dehydration was the culprit. I remember the feeling I had at both races before passing out and shades of that same feeling were creeping in - only halfway through the marathon. Not a great sign. The feeling is hard to explain but it's a groggy feeling where I go through waves of dizzyness and loss of focus.

I'm a pretty heavy sweater and as a result try to stay topped up on my hydration. I didn't think about it at the time (though I've been obsessing about it ever since the race), but even though I pee'd a couple of times on the bike, I hadn't kept close track of how much I was drinking. For a humid and warm day I should have been taking in about 24 - 30 oz of water per hour. Honestly, I don't know how much water I had during that 6 1/2 hour ride. I remember finishing my first two 24 oz bottles in the first 3 hours, which already put me behind. After that, I was using the 20 oz bottles they gave us on course and I'm sure I didn't go through as many as I should have.

And so, after what I remember being my last relatively good section at about mile 14 to 15 of the run, things started to go down hill rapidly. On the run I generally can't take in as much water as I can on the bike. I was shooting for 24 oz per hour but was no where near this. The worse I felt the harder it was to taken in both nutrition and hydration. After mile 15 I can't even recall what I took in for either calories or hydration. Again, not a great sign.

The rest of the race is pretty foggy. One of the last clear memories is seeing one of the GSTC support crew at the 21 mile marker. I remember he suggested that I try jogging 100 yards and walking 100 yards and I told him I was done running. I was completely out of gas.

The rest of the story has already been told here.

I'm incredibly grateful for the support of friends and family prior to race day, on race day and since race day. I've been humbled by the comments of support by my familiy plus new and old friends which has helped put the whole experience into perspective. Without this support, I have to admit that it would be significantly harder to deal with.

Most people who really know me would describe me as a pretty low key guy who doesn't let a lot of things bother me. For the most part I've always had the attitude that what's done is done - let's move on with the situation as it stands and deal with it. Intellectually, that is the easy part, however the challenging part is accepting that logic emotionally. This DNF experience has been tough. Whereas I could normally be pretty disciplined about accepting situations for what they were and moving on, for some reason in this situation, my discipline has been really tested.

Besides asking myself what I could have done differently, the biggest question I'm asking myself is did I give up too easily? Many friends have told me how inspired they were just to see me do the training and make it as far as I did. I'm truly grateful for that and don't want to come across the wrong way. To most, getting pulled off the course by EMT's after 135 miles can be defined as not giving up too easily. My intent here is not to sound tough or somehow inflate my ego. Nevertheless, I'm constantly asking myself that question - could I have gotten up off the bumper of that ambulance and gutted it out to the end. Not knowing the answer really bothers me sometimes.

I'm so thankful to the many friends that have reminded me of my own words that I use as the intro to my blog - "The journey is more important than the destination". The interpretation I'm trying to emotionally solidify for myself from the experience: I learned more about how deep I can go physically, physiologically, mentally and emotionally on July 26th, 2009. Use that experience and apply it to every other part of my life. I know, in time, this is the meaning that will stick.

The rest of the long weekend ended on a high note at the awards banquet the next day as a result of the Janus Charity Challenge. More on that soon....

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report: Bike

With the swim behind me I was anxious to get on the bike. There is a good little run getting from the swim exit to transition but it goes by quickly with the hundreds of screaming spectators that surround you as you move through the 10 foot wide chute. I saw some of my family in the masses of people which is always great to be able to do.

Thanks to my well placed transition bags I was able to easily find mine and make my way to the transition tent. 112 miles is a long way so I took my time to make sure I had everything I needed. After getting my socks and shoes on I doused myself in sunscreen before getting my helmet on. That's when the first annoying pain of the day hit. The velcro around the neck of my wetsuit had apparently left a pretty good section of irritated skin, which burned as I put the sun screen. But, I shrugged it off, continued with my preparation and made my way out to my bike.

I walked briskly out to the bikes. There was a heavy downpour during the swim and the grass in the bike area was pretty soft. No need to twist an ankle on the unstable ground by trying to run out to my bike.

One of the nice treats of Ironman is the volunteer support and organization is awesome. My bike was waiting for me at the end of my row and I made a point to thank the volunteer as I grabbed it and made my way to the bike start.

Just before the bike mount line I saw my wife and son. It would likely be 6 1/2 to 7 hours before I saw them again so I took the time to give them both a quick kiss and made my way on the bike.

The first 2 miles of the bike course is a mix of sharp downhills and false downhill flats making for a nice way to start out the bike. After the first two miles the climbing begins, lots of it. Drafting is a always something race officials try to discourage, which in Ironman means a distance of 7 meters between you and the bike in front of you. It is comical to try and comply to this rule when there are hundreds of other athletes, all going 12 - 15 mph uphill. I didn't see any race officials but I suspect they would be lenient during the first several miles as the race begins to spread out.

I felt really comfortable on the bike. My goal time was 6 hours 45 minues but even more than that I wanted to have similar lap times over the two lap course. A drastically slower 2nd lap would most likely mean I pushed too hard early on and was setting myself up for a very tough run.

I was determined to take it easy on the first lap. I kept close eye on my heart rate and tried to keep it under 135 on the hills and under 125 on the flats. The first 40 miles start out with several rolling hills, a fantastic 5 mile downhill and several miles of flat section along a river before getting to the serious climbing. When I got to this point I was still feeling very good but wasn't quite sure how my body would respond on the upcoming hills.

My coach had me doing quite a bit of bike work, particularly on hills only 10 - 14 days before race day. While doing the training I was nervous that I might be doing too much too close to race day, but, my fears were overcome as I navigated the hills. I felt strong and steady and by the end of the 1st loop I had posted a time of 3 hours 10 minutes, without pushing very hard. This was well ahead of the 3 hours and 20 minutes I was shooting for.

Making my way through town after the first lap, I was able to see most of my family, except for my wife and son. There are so many people in that 2 or 3 mile stretch and your moving at 20mph so it's tough to try and make out faces as they whiz by behind the barriers. I know they were around but as I made my way back out on the 2nd loop I wished that I was able to catch their faces.

There was some incredible support out on the course. Thanks to Tom's crew (Tom is a GSTC teammate), whose enthusiasm was incredibly helpful out on course. I actually had other racers who were around me at the time we passed Tom's crew comment what great support the GSTC had. Quite a compliment to be noticed out of the tens of thousands of spectators out on course!

The 2nd loop went smoothly also. I was riding into a pretty strong wind coming up the climbs that dominate the end of each loop which made the end more challenging. However, for just having ridden 112 miles and close to 6,000 feet of climbing, I thought I was in good shape. My total bike time was 6:33. Eight minutes faster than my 2006 time and only about a 10 minute difference from loop 1 which I was happy with. Plus, aerobically I felt in really good shape.

I would soon find out that I had made some hydration errors while on the bike that would seriously cost me later in the race....

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report: Race morning and swim

Race day is a bitter sweet memory. While I was incredibly grateful to be out there, the way the day ended still has me up at night trying to figure out what I could have done differently or whether or not I could have dug any deeper and pushed through to the end.

I woke up at 3:45 feeling like I had gotten a great nights sleep. One thing I seem to have inadvertently trained myself to do is to use the bathroom first thing in the morning. This may seem like it isn't a big deal but being able to empty the bowels before leaving the room and not have to worry about standing in a port-a-potty line with 2,400 other athletes is a huge relief!

After using the bathroom I went about the routine I had been running through in my mind a thousand times. Get the uniform on, put the timing chip on, put on my sweatpants and sweatshirt, mix up my nutrition and fill the water bottles. I was hoping to be done by 5 but was ready to walk out the door at 4:45. It was nice to have my bike and transition bags already dropped off from the previous day.

The plan was to meet Paul at 5 and walk down to transition together. I don't remember what we talked about while walking down to the transition area but I was glad to be walking there with him. We had done marathon training together, lots of training for other races together and most recently we had been training for the past six months together for Ironman, his first and my second. We developed what was already a pretty tight relationship to one that was even tighter. Doing 7 hour bike rides together with someone who you have so much in common with will do that.

Once I arrived at transition I went through body-marking in what was a surprisingly short line, and went to my bike. There I put the bottles in their cages, topped off the air in my tires with a borrowed pump and gave the chain a quick lube. The last step was to drop off my special needs bags.

The only thing I had to do now was sit and wait. I found a seat at the place where I was going to meet my family and took in the craziness for a while. I felt calm even in the midst of all that was going on around me. While I was waiting I started the process of getting my wetsuit on so I was ready to go once my family arrived.

At 6:30 I met up with my wife and son and we made our way up to the swim start area. I had the chance to say a quick hello to the rest of my family. At about 6:40 I took in two Hammer Apple Cinnamon gels, took a swig of water, said my good byes and off I went to the swim start.

It took about 10 minutes to actually get into the water even though the total trip was only about 50 yards. All of the 2,400 athletes were being corralled over the timing mats through a 10 foot wide chute.

Just as I was getting in the water it started to rain pretty hard. The water was refreshing as I did my first few strokes and I was feeling very comfortable and relaxed after swimming for three or four minutes. I swam over to one of the beaches to minimize the treading I would have to do before the start. With about 5 minutes before the start I made my way up to the starting rope.

I still don't know how smart a decision this was. In 2006 I started about 25 yards back from the starting rope and while it was pretty crazy I was able to find clean water after the first 1/4 mile. This time, that wasn't the case. My swim had improved a lot in three years and I was feeling comfortable about starting closer to the front. I was still surprisingly calm when the cannon went off. I put my head in the water and started to swim.

The problem with starting so close to the front ended up being that I was never able to get into a great rhythm until close to the end of the first 1.2 mile loop. All the craziness actually made the first loop go by quickly. In that first 32 minutes I had my goggles knocked off once, almost had my wedding band pulled off, and got knocked around pretty good.

The 2nd loop wasn't much better, even though I had cleaner water to swim in with fewer people, I seemed to have gotten stuck behind a slower group that no matter how hard I tried, I could not get around. I got out of the 2nd loop and saw that my time was almost 1 hour 8 minutes. I was swimming sub 1 hour training swims at this distance so I was kind of disappointed in my swim time. But, I just made my way to T1 to get on with the rest of my race.

In the grand scheme of things the Ironman swim is just a warm up for the rest of the day.

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report: Saturday Pre-Race

Saturday turned out to be more relaxing than I expected. The plan for the day is to put my transition and special needs bags together and drop them off along with my bike to the transition area.

The transition bags can be a bit overwhelming. In 2006 I put way more than I needed in them in anticipation of any worst case scenario I could imagine. I did pretty much the same this year, but not quite as bad. Here is this year's breakdown:

Swim to bike transition bag: Helmet, bike shoes, sunglasses, socks, skullcap, electrolytes, gel flask with a mix of Apple Cinnamon and Banana Hammer gel, CO2 cartridge, Hammer Bar and arm warmers.

Bike special needs bag: This bag is available after the 1st 56 mile loop. This contained a 2 spare tubes, CO2 cartridge, Hammer Bar, 24oz bottle with 3 scoops of Hammer Sustained Energy, spare socks.

Bike to run transition bag: Running shoes, dry socks, canister of electrolytes, visor, gel flask with the same mix of Hammer Gel, Hammer Bar.

Run special needs bag: This bag is available after the 1st 13 mile loop. This contained a flask of Hammer Gel, canister of electrolytes, 20 oz bottle with 2 scoops of Hammer HEED, dry socks.

After getting the bags packed and putting the numbers on my bike and helmet I made my way down to the transition area to drop everything off at around 11am. Because of my participation in the Janus Charity Challenge I got a great number, 72, which meant I was pretty well placed in the transition area making my bag a little easier to find. This may seem like a little thing but I had a goal of beating my transition times from 2006 so being able to find my bags out of the other 2,400 wasn't a simple process.

After racking my bike and hanging my transition bags I made my way down to Mirror Lake with the family so my Son could get a swim in. He had a blast and I was able to get off my feet for a while and sit in the shade. My awesome wife had packed sandwiches so we were able to enjoy a picnic lunch next to the lake.

After the swimming and picnic it was back to the hotel for some downtime before having to get back for the 2pm gathering of Janus Charity Challenge racers. If anyone reading ever decides to do an Ironman, I strongly urge you to get involved with this program. Besides raising money for the charity of your choice the people involved are fantastic and I've made some great friends. It was nice to catch up with them before heading back to the room for more downtime.

At about 5:30 I had my traditional pre-race meal of pasta with my wife's homemade pasta sauce. Then, before turning in I layed out my GSTC race uniform & timing chip so I'd be ready to roll the next morning.

I felt ready to go. I did experience a few episodes of panic over the size task I was about to undertake, but I kept trying to turn my thoughts to the gratitude I felt for the opportunity I had to be able to participate. The only left to do was wake up and race....more on race day soon.

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report: Friday pre-race

We arrived in Lake Placid the Friday before race day at about Noon. It was great to be in town again. This was my fifth year being at the race and 2nd year racing. There is something about the Lake Placid community and the energy of Ironman that is magnetic.

The plan for the day was to get registration out of the way and get a 45 minute ride in to loosen up after the 5 1/2 hour drive. We hit registration first and breezed right through - quicker than I expected. So quick that I didn't have time to experience the nervous anticipation I had in 2006 while waiting in line. That "Oh s$*t" feeling of what have I gotten myself into. Instead, I found myself surprisingly calm.

Ironman has their act together. There are four stations to go through during registration, it's all volunteers and is a very smooth process considering there are 2,400 athletes to process.

First stop is to sign waivers and verify emergency contact information is correct. One different thing I remember signing this time over my last Ironman was a HIPPA form in which you could give Ironman permission to share my medical status should I end up in the medical tent. If you read my last post you'll know that it was a good thing that I checked "yes" on this question.

Next stop is weigh in. I weighed in at 200 pounds even, which is about what I expected. My home scale was at 194 without clothes and I had been taking Liquid Edurance to help with my hydration. A result from this supplement is small weight gains just prior to race day in the form of water weight.

Next stop is getting race day gear. This includes:

• Swag bag, which is considerably weak considering it's by far the most expensive race to sign up for and they seem to have more sponsors than they know what to do with
• Swim cap marked with race number
  
• Timing chip
• Race numbers for the helmet, bike and race belt
• Five gear bags each with a number sticker and instructions on which bag goes with which sticker. The gear bags are for morning dry clothes, swim to bike transition, bike special needs, bike to run transition and run special needs. I remember this being completely overwhelming in 2006 but normal and expected for my return race.
• Number bracelet which identifies me as a participant and will get me into transition areas, swim start, post race awards, etc.

Last stop is to verify the timing chip which is a quick process and I'm out the door. I ran into a friend from Great Bay Masters during registration who was during the race for the 2nd year in a row. It continually amazes me what an awesome community trialthon is. I've been involved in the sport long enough that it's guaranteed that any race I go to I'll run into someone I know and be able to have a great conversation about the sport we share.

After a quick check-in at the hotel I connected up with my GSTC teammates for a spin. We were out for about 40 minutes and did a short portion of the bike course. I felt very relaxed and strong, especially on the hills we did - I remember hoping race day would bring the same feeling.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. After a quick shower I decided to worry about packing my gear bags on Saturday morning and just relaxed for a while until dinner. We were sharing a 2-room suite with some friends and were able to catch up with them before heading over to The Dancing Bear for dinner at the High Peaks Resort, both the hotel and restaurant are highly recommended if you are ever in Lake Placid!

DNF...

The last 24 hours have been a roller coaster. It's 7am in Lake Placid and as exhausted as I am I've been up since 5:30 after finally getting to bed around midnight.

Lots of people have asked me "what happened" at the race yesterday? I'm not sure that I can fit it all into one post so I'll try to give a short summary now and will put up a full race report in the coming days.

After feeling good most of the dayand having what I thought was a pretty good swim, bike and first 10 miles on the marathon, things took a very quick turn for the worse after that.

Somewhere soon after that I began to get behind in my nutrition and hydration and it very quickly caught to me. Every time I tried to take in some gel I felt like I was going to throw up and unfortunately that was the only nutrition I had with me. I tried to use some of the on-course nutrition but that didn't sit well either. Trying to eat pretzels was a particularly bad idea. I started to gag almost immediately after the first bite.

After running for most of the first 10 miles on the run I started to run and walk as I was able. Slowly that turned to more walking than running. I was hoping that trying to make up for the fluid loss by slowing my pace would catch me up and I could pick up the pace for the 2nd half of the marathon. That never happened - it seemed like my system just stopped absorbing anything at that point.

At about mile 18 or 19, I don't remember exactly, I went from what I perceived as a power walk to just trying to put one foot in front of the other. Things are a little spacey until I get to mile 21 when I see some awesome supporters from the Granite State Triathlon Club. They gave me some words of encouragement and I pushed ahead.

The situation really went downhill after that. I remember going by an ambulance that was located next to an aid station and the EMT's asking if I was OK. They said I was wobbling a bit but I told them I was OK. After another 2o yards or so I stopped and got really wobbly. I think the EMT's were following me because I remember being held up at this point. They told me that they wanted to check me out and walked me back to the ambulance.

One of the last clear things I remember is them setting me down on the bumper of the ambulance. After that, the memories are scattered, except for one. At one point I heard them saying my name and rubbing their knuckles on my chest to get my attention and asked a question: "David, we need your permission to transport you to the medical tent". My eyes welled up with tears as I nodded yes. After that I remember a mix of feeling cold and hot, shivering uncontrollably and trying to hold the tears back. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep but the EMT's kept asking me questions and rubbing my chest to keep me awake.

The next crystal clear memory is seeing my wife at the medical tent. At that point holding back the tears was impossible. I completely released. My time in the medical tent was a similar story of sporadic memories as I was hooked up to IV fluids. But, after four liters of fluids I began to feel coherent again.

After getting back to the hotel room the reality of why I faded so quickly became apparent when I got on the scale. Even after receiving 4 liters of IV fluid I had still dropped 15 pounds from my pre-race weight.

Dealing with my first DNF is an experience I'm still trying to figure out....more on that to come I'm sure.

T minus 12 hours

It's just after 7 PM on July 25th. The cannon will go off in almost exactly 12 hours and I can hardly believe it!

There aren't many things we do in life in which we focus so intently on a single activity or goal. For the past six months I've put in anywhere from 15 - 25 hours per week training for a single event. Now that it is here it's nearly impossible to explain the range of emotions I've experienced in the last several hours leading up to right now.

Maybe I'll make an attempt to put them into writing during the free time I'll be working to fill once the event is over. For now, the one emotion I'll share is the incredible sense of gratitude I feel, mostly towards my wife and son, but also to the rest of my family, for the support. Triathlon is an inherently selfish sport that isn't possible without the support of those around you and I hope to sufficiently express to them how thankful I am for that. I have no doubt the gratitude I feel for their support will pull me through more than one of several expected low points tomorrow.

When asked by friends and family my reaction to finishing my first Ironman in 2006 the first response that came to me was that it was one of the best and worst days of my life. In one day I experienced an incredible range of emotions, often all within a few minutes of each other while trying to find the strength to push through the emotional and physical pain to reach the finish line.

Knowing that I'll likely have a similar experience tomorrow is difficult to put into words, so, rather than try I'll end it here, put on my "running playlist" on my iPod and work on getting a little bit of sleep before my 12 hours are up.

T minus 30 days

I'm not sure how this happened without me noticing but there are only 30 days until Ironman Lake Placid!!

The last few weeks of training have been really good. They included some long ridees including a 110 miles through the NH Lakes Region, White Mountains and a climb over the Kancamagus Highway. The training block peaked with the Patriot Half Ironman last weekend in which I beat last years time but about 20 minutes. All this was followed by a light recovery week this week before the last push through a couple of monster weeks.

I'm going to try and write consistently over that period, but we'll see how well I do at balancing the schedule.

The Tune Up Race - Patriot Half Ironman

My first race of the year was this weekend, the Patriot "Half Ironman". I put that in quotes because the bike is two miles longer than a typical 1/2 Ironman distance, and, the swim was shorter than the 1.2 miles it was supposed to be. Either that or I should be swimming in the 2012 Olympics. I normally swim at about a 1:30 pace for 100 yards and my pace was just over a minute at the Patriot...the course was definitely short.

Overall I was happy with my race. The swim gave me an artificial boost of confidence when I clocked a time of 22 minutes instead of the 32 minutes it took me last year. Even thought my time was artificially short, I know I was having a strong swim when I passed some of the racers from the wave that started 10 minutes ahead of me.

My bike computer died at mile one of the 59 mile ride so I just rode on "feel" and by heart rate. I ended up going a full 1 MPH faster this year and never felt like I was really out of my comfort zone.

The run was also good overall. My goal was to finish the 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours which I did by about 1 minute. This was after feeling pretty crappy for the first couple of miles. However, my trainings have been paying off. I recently had a long run in which over a 15 mile run my coach had me go at about 85% for the last 30 minutes. When I first read it I thought she was crazy, but I did it, and suffered. But it paid off as my last 3 miles was my fastest of the day!

Now for the results. Overall I came in 20th out of 40 for my age group, 92nd out of 318 overall. My highlight of the race for times was my 35th fastest swim out of 318. It's the one triathlon leg where my larger than average frame isn't a disadvantage.

Now comes a relatively easy week before a "monster" week of training that includes a 120 mile ride in the mountains.

P.S. - I've been woefully neglecting this blog as I try to balance training, work, family, etc. But as we come into crunch time I hope to update all of my readers (which really just includes my parents and my wife) with more frequent posts.

What's on your "running" playlist?

I suspect that most triathletes have a playlist like mine. "Running" is what I've chosen to label it but it is the default playlist that I use when going out for a run or strength training at the gym. It's got 60 songs but there are really about a dozen songs that have a "story" behind why they ended up on my playlist. As a result I think it's kind of an eclectic combination of songs. Some of them fit for a running playlist while others are only there because of circumstance.

Here they are:

"American Woman" by Lenny Kravitz: I heard this song at mile 139.5 out of 140.6 at Ironman Lake Placid. Someone had a stereo system set up on their front lawn on Mirror Lake Drive and it will forever be in my head as the song I heard on my last mile of my first Ironman.

"Best of You" by the Foo Fighters: This song seems to be a favorite of Keith Jordan of Endorfun Sports. I think it has only been at his races that I've heard it. One of the great things about Keith's races is there speakers he has set up along the run course. The first time I heard this one was at the Mooseman 1/2 Ironman going up the first hill just after the road peels away from Newfound Lake.

"Beautiful Day" by U2: If you've been to an Ironman Lake Placid race you probably know where this one comes from. I've been to the race for the past four years straight (once as a competitor) and it is the last song played before the cannon goes off before the swim start. My heart races just thinking about being in Mirror Lake with 2000 other competitors about to begin the day.

"Candles" and "Alive" by Dirty Vegas: Janus is a sponsor of Ironman and I'm in the process of using their Charity Challenge program for a 2nd time to raise money for Bretton Woods Adaptive. After my first Ironman in 2006 Janus produced a video with footage from the race that used both of these songs in it. They handed it out at the awards banquet after the race where I received 2nd place......definitely not for speed for for the amount of money raised. I probably watched that video a hundred times in the first month after the race.

"Sugar, We're Goin Down" by Fall Out Boy: The three years I've been at Ironman Lake Placid while not racing, I've volunteered in various parts of the race. The past two times my son came with me and we volunteered together - an awesome experience. I don't know if he'll ever want to do an Ironman but I'm glad he's been able to attend if for no other reason than to be inspired by what is possible when you set a goal. This last year we spent the ENTIRE day in a pouring down rainstorm, four hours of which were handing out supplies to racers at one of the aid stations. While waiting for some GSTC finishers that year, this song came on and it reminds me of the day in the rain I spent with my son. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

There are definitely a few others but these are the highlights. What songs do you have on your "running" playlist and what's the story?

The case for a coach and speed work

I've had a triathlon coach for the past few years. She's awesome. Great plans, really cares about the athletes she coaches, very responsive and accessible. I've only used her plans for triathlons and I'm wishing I hadn't waited so long.

Ever since my first marathon I've had a goal to break the 4 hour mark. My time that race was 4:17:49. My best time prior to the Green Mountain Marathon was 4:14:53 the first time I did the Disney Marathon - a 9:44/minute mile pace.

Before Green Mountain I always just followed a plan I picked up in one of the Tri magazines. Heavy cross training with the core long runs on the weekend. They got me to the finish line but never prepared me for a PR.

Determined to break four hours this year I asked Suzan to help me out - Thank goodness. The plan had a much heavier run focus with cross training still in the mix. Also more speed work and track work than I've ever done - what a difference. Her help led me to a new PR by about 25 minutes - a full 1 minute per mile faster than my best time!

So, while long slow distance may be at the core of your training plan, don't leave around the speed and track work. And go hire Suzan.

Vermont City Marathon - 4:17:49 - 9:50 min/mi
Disney Marathon - 4:14:53 - 9:44 min/mi
Disney Marathon - 4:19:51 - 9:55 min/mi
Manchester Marathon - 4:30:28 - 26.2 mi - 10:19 min/mi
Green Mountain Marathon - 3:49:31 - 8:46 min/mi (first marathon with Suzan's help)

Green Mountain Marathon

It was a good day. I have been super busy since the race on Saturday but I wanted to give a quick update and post that I had a great race. The official time is 3:49:31 (though I got a strange e-mail from the race director asking me to confirm my bib number and time because there was some kind of confusion?). My watch showed 3:47:45.

In either case, I broke my goal time of four hours and set a new PR by at least 25 minutes! Suzan, if you are ready, you rock!

She gave me a training plan and told me it was designed for a time of 3 hours 45 minutes. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical with my previous best time of 4:15 and my longest run six weeks prior to the race was 13 miles. I know I did the work, but kudos to her for giving me the

plan.

On a bummer note, I got a horrible case of tendonitis in my left foot. It's feeling better today, but man did it hurt.

Thanks to Tom and Tish McGonegal for taking photos of the race. She caught one of me on the way out and one at the finish line with Connor running beside me.

With the sore foot, I haven't done anything except sleep in (which is relative, I'm out of bed by six) but I think I'm going to hit the pool tomorrow.

Race week

It's been a while since posting last, which I'm not sure why. I've been tapering for a couple of weeks and should have more time to blog, not less. And, due to a couple of physical problems, I haven't done any kind of workout since Sunday. Somehow I've kept busy.

I was up in the lakes region last weekend and had a great bike ride on a crisp Saturday fall morning with plenty of color to look at. I felt good afterwards and enjoyed some time with family. Sunday I did a 12 mile run and within the first 1/2 mile developed this strange pain in the outside of my left foot. It wasn't enough to stop but it was consistent for the entire run.

Then, on Monday morning I wake up and have this slightly uncomfortable pain on my back side. Over the course of the day it gets worse and by Tuesday morning it is all too apparent that I have developed a saddle sore. It was bad enough that I had to go to the hospital and have it drained (nice visual, huh).

My taper schedule for the week called for some biking, swimming and a little running, none of which I could do with the discomfort the saddle sore gave me.

Thankfully, the draining and antibiotics have been helping and I'm shooting for a short run tomorrow morning before heading up to Vermont for the Saturday marathon.

I still think sub 4 hours is very possible given how I have felt on my training runs, I'm just hoping my foot holds out and saddle sore doesn't rear it's ugly head!

Pumpkinman race result

I had one of the best races ever this past Saturday.  I placed 6th in my age group, out of 40 (the largest male age group), and 27th out of 373 finishers.  I felt really good going in and I'm glad I was able to pull it all together for a race.

Most of the races I do are much longer than the 1/3 mile swim, 15 mile bike and 3 mile run making up this race.  For the longer races it really isn't necessary to do much of a warm up. When you are racing for 5 hours or more, the benefit of a warm up goes way down as you are just wasting much needed energy you'll need later in the day.

The swim was a beach start - the first time I had to do this kind of start.  I wasn't sure how it would go. Would I lose my goggles? Would I spike my heart rate on the run into the water and not be able to recover?  Well, it went fine.  I had a strong swim and finished in 8:43, the third fastest swim time for my wave. 

The transition to T-1 was the most unique I had ever done.  It consisted of a short but very steep run from the water.  It was so unique that there was a separate contest for the fastest one up the hill.  My heart rate was in the 160's all the way up, which is the highest it would get for the whole race.  I had opted to wear a wetsuit, even for such a short swim. I had no problems getting out of the wetsuit and had a quick transition to the bike.

It had been raining most of the morning (and my awesome Wife and Son came to watch me anyway) so the roads were wet.  I wanted to average at least 20 MPH for the course , which I did.  I probably could have gone faster but the wet roads slowed me up a bit.

My bike to run transition was probably the fastest I've ever done, only 35 seconds.  I was able to stay strong on the run and finished with a sub-7 minute/mile pace, despite the final mile being mostly up hill.

Not the challenge, translate my ability to go fast over a short sprint race, to the half-ironman and ironman distance.

My focus will shift this week to getting ready for the Green Mountain Marathon.

Race day tomorrow

The Pumpkinman is tomorrow and I'm feeling really good. I calculated out what I think my time will be - around 1:20. If I can stick to that, based on last year's times, I should finish pretty high up in my age group and even on the overall.

The former hurricane Hanna is charging up the coast but it looks like the race will be happen before it moves in. Temps look like they'll be in the upper 60's to low 70's and cloudy - should be perfect for racing. It's a club race for GSTC so there should be a good contingency there.

Running on the Sun

I watched a great movie last night called Running on the Sun about the Badwater 135. A 135-mile running race from Badwater in the middle of the California desert up to Mount Whitney (Amy has already told me there is absolutely no way I'm doing this race!).

There are plenty of inspirational stories, sad stories and stories that make you say WTF! But I laughed outloud at the quote below. It was said by Ephraim Romesberg, 68, at the 65 mile mark of the race.

"When I start these events with very loft goals, like I think I'm going to do something special and after a point of body deterioration the goals get evaluated down. I always get to a point, which is basically where I am now, where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up on my shoes"

This is a great documentary that I would recommend to any endurance athlete.

Patriot Triathlon Video

I made the Patriot Triathlon highlight reel! The video is below and I'm about 4:22 in doing the run shuffle is the GSTC kit.

1st Half Iron in 18 months

Last Saturday I completed my first half Ironman since 2006. The year I did Ironman Lake Placid I finished the year with Firm Man in Narragansett, RI. I'll do a full race report another time. I've been enjoying some easy training days but it has been extremely humid out so I haven't been very motivated to get on the computer and do any writing.

The humidity broke today and even though I've had a few rides and a swim, it hasn't been very enjoyable with the level of humidity out there.

It is one week until I leave for Lake Placid to volunteer for the race and hopefully sign up for the 2009 race!

I'm also fully entrenched in the Tour de France. With all the doping controversy and Team Astana not being invited back, I didn't think I would be all that interested this year. I was wrong. With all of the changes this year it is actually turning out to be interesting to watch.

I hope to post more often for the rest of this month.