Ironman Lake Placid

Its now been a week since Ironman Lake Placid, which was my "A" race for the season. Here's how it went down:

I arrived in LP on thursday evening after a few days of rest and recovery. I was feeling fresh and relaxed, and arriving in town thankfully did not make me too anxious. Of course, seeing 2300 other athletes in top shape can be a bit intimidating, but I remained pretty calm until race day. I kept it pretty low-key in the few days before the race, waking early, doing some easy training, and then relaxing the rest of the day.

I awoke at 4:15 am on race day, after a decent nights sleep, to eat breakfast, do my thing, and be out the door to transition by 5am. The sun was on the rise, and the weather looked like it was going to be perfect. I did the usual at transition - bodymarking, final prep of my gear, and finially I went over to the swim start and got suited up and into the water.

This year I was signifgantly less nervous than my first Ironman last year. I got out into the water, and before you knew it, the cannon fired, and the race was underway. The swim at LP is notoriously chaotic. The end of the lake where the race begins is very narrow, and everyone heads straight for the bouy line (there is a rope under the water that all the bouys are tied to, and it makes for easy navigation). I stayed relaxed and made my way over to the bouy line at the turn around on the first loop of the swim. My swim stroke was on, and the whole swim felt effortless. I was hoping to go sub 1hr for the 2.4 mile swim, but I exited in 1:00:28, about 30 seconds faster than last year. I wasn't totally happy with my swim, but I had expended minimal energy.

I trucked it into T1, got all my bike gear on, grabbed the ride, and it was on. I felt like I nailed my race taper this year, and my bike legs felt amazing. My goal was to take it easy on the first 56 mile lap, as the second lap always gets winder, and the legs never feel as good (I think the adrenaline wears off). I did just that. My first lap came around in 2:35, while the second lap was a 2:44 for a 5:19 bike split. I was pumped, as I wanted to ride a 5:20, and I had done slightly better without pusshing myself too hard. Even more exciting was the fact that I was leading my age group, and was in 13th place on the road out of 2200+ people.

Into T2 and out a minute and 38 seconds later, the hardest part of the race had begun. The first few miles of the marathon always seem slow, as you are now going 8 or 9 mph as apposed to 20+ mph on the bike. Since I was leading the age group, the strategy was to ease into a comfortable pace after the first few miles. The first lap of the run went well, but the hottest part of the day was setting in, and with no cloud cover, and minimal shade on the course, the second lap was going to be tough. The second 13.1 mile loop was definately pure pain. In the end, I ran a 3:19 marathon, less than a minute slower than last year, but it was tough conditions.


I finised the race in 9:46:01, 10 minutes and 5 seconds faster than last year. I won the 18-24 age group by over 35 minutes, and (this shocks me) was 9th overall of over 2200 competitors. I am very happy with this result. I wish the swim and run had been a little faster, but I cant complain. It leaves me hungry for next year. I earned a Kona slot, but have not accepted it. This fall I will be busy finishing school, and interviewing for jobs. I plan on going to Kona in '08, assuming I can qualify.

Next on the schedule, are a few smaller races, then Timberman 70.3 at the end of August.

Thanks for reading

~Mike