| Swim | Map | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bike | Map 1 | Map 2 | Elevation Map |
| Run | Map 1 | Map 2 | Elevation Map |
I ran a Marathon on Sunday and 6 days later will be doing this Ironman. In theory shouldn't be a huge deal but with all the other stuff...
Hammad was going to do the half-Ironman at the same time so I was looking forward to the company. He hasn't trained. Partly he was injured, partly he was getting himself injured and partly life/weather interceded. Oh well.
I think I haven't written about this because I was trying to postpone it. Things must go on tho.
Yesterday, Jamil took my bike and Donalds bike to the bike shop. Going now to pick it up and from there to pickup the rental car. Lots to coordinate. Gonna do 2 loads of laundry today and organize and then pack as well. Luckily I got my master list.
I got there early (cool) and went to get food. I ran into a HITS person and talked to them a little. After that, chilled in the car while I ate. After that, hung out and talked to different people. Eventually it was almost 3pm and the area for the athlete meeting was already ready for a few hours. Unfortunatly, it was in the sun and I thought that was silly. I went to talk to the RD who gladly moved it to the shade. Awesome.
I then left to go to my hotel: The Best Western in Ticonderoga. Little story here... I left getting accomodations to late in the game. Partly I was hopeful with Hammad but in reality it was me procrastinating. I finally called Wednesday only to find out that everything is booked. Wonderful. I wasn't sure if I wanted a 1 night stay (check in Friday / Check out Saturday morning) or if I should take the Check out Sunday option so I can shower and maybe take a 2 hour nap after the race. In any case, nothing to be found. Oh and they all wanted something like 300+ a night with a 2 day minimum. What the Hell?!? Well, the Best Western, was something like $ 130 a night with a 2 day minimum but they only had Friday available. Hm... They let me take the Friday in/Saturday out option which worked well for me. What it meant was that I wouldn't be able to shower or nap but that's ok. I'd rather get home faster anyway.
When I got to the hotel, I realized I was so out of it and I then realized I got a little color on my forehead and even though I was drinking, I was probably a little dehydrated. Wonderful.
By the way, I met quite a few people and of course I don't remember everyones name. I did meet Eliana and her male friend (Husband?) from Runners Edge Long Island and also Chris (I think) and his wife from Canada. Chris was most nervous about the swim and was looking forward to the bike.
I went to sleep early and was up early of course to eat and get ready.
I do meet a beautiful 18 months German Shepard named Shep (as in Shepard). She was wining and not happy. Daddy was holding the leash since Mommy was doing the swim, while he was going to do the bike and someone else was gonna run. Still, Shep wanted Mommy and she wasn't happy that Mommy left. Very cute dog.
I got my wetsuit on and observed the crowd. Saturday was race day for the Fulls and the Halfers (Aquabike and relays too) while the Olympics, Sprinters and Opens would race Sunday. There were 20 people doing the full (Green swimcaps) and 100 people doing the Half (White swimcaps). I decided to avoid the fight and move over way to the left. It also seemed to me that it was the best approach to the yellow buoy due to the current.
The gun went off and we all ran in and ran and ran. Some people started swimming. I saw no point in swimming in knee high water so I ran a bit more. Eventually, it did get deeper and even though the water was beautiful (clear), I could not touch the bottom. Around the Yellow buoy on the right and then 3 reds on the left, left turn, 2 red on the left and then eventually circle around the yellow on the left. to go back again.
I didn't really have a feel as to how I was swimming. Well, I didn't feel like I was swimming well but it is what it is. The worst thing was that the first hill on the bike was messing with my head and I needed to continually stop the negative thoughts and concentrate on the swim. Well, 5 reds were done and I was aiming for the yellow. I immediatly noticed I was off course. Getting to the yellow was difficult. The water was constantly pushing you out. Had to fight it out but eventually, managed to get around it and start the loop around the reds again.
I was done with the reds and again was aiming for the yellow. I was wondering about my time but I refused to look at my watch. I also didn't take a split so I don't know what my time was for the 1st loop vs. the 2nd loop.
I finally got to the yellow and the water got shallower and suddenly it was much much easier. I stood for a second and realized that it would be better to swim to save my legs so I did. Eventually tho, I did stand, grabbed my goggles and swimcap off and started stripping my wetsuit. I got to shore and realized I dropped my goggles. Damn it! Oh well.
I looked at my watch to see the damage and was pleasently surprised to see 1:15. Awesome. They managed to get some wetsuit strippers so I went to one. He told me to lie down so he can pull. Unfortunatly, I forgot to open the calves so I was dragged about 8 feet. Yay. Anyway, he got it off me and onto transition I went. It was strange. Most of the Full bikes were there. I started to get ready and 3 guys came in and a wife said to one of them that he's number 7. That means I was number 4 overall after the swim. Cool. I know, I would give it all back on the bike as usual but for a minute it felt good.
Time to stop procrastinating and go ;(. I took the bike and out I went. Got on and into the hill. First thing I notice is that my bike computer isn't working. Sucks. I was gonna use it to let me know how much longer is this stupid hill. Everytime someone passed me, I asked the mileage. Only 4 miles to go. Only 3 miles to go. Only 2.5. Eventually, no one else was there to ask (Yes - I suck on the bike) but I did ask some people who were sitting in front of their house and they told me that there was only 1 more mile. Yay...
I finally got up there and I got off the bike to see about the computer. Made a small adjustment and Boom! It started working again except I was 4.8 miles short. That's ok. The rest of the ride was doing mental math to make sense of things. That's ok. Anyway, the next 3 miles were awesome. I was flying at almost 40 MPH while sitting upright and purposely not aerodynamic. This way, I wouldn't have to use my brakes. The ride down was great and I did pass the 8 mile aid station. From there, it was rollers. Up and down. Constantly. There were 2 left turns manned by the Sherrifs department and a straight through an intersection again manned by Sherrifs. That got you to the next aid station which you could stop at or just blow through picking up a water bottle. That's what I did. Another 2 miles, a left turn, over a bridge and another left into a crappy hill and you finally get to the turn around. Now go back to the 8 mile aid station. Phew...
At the regular turn around tho, this woman (relay biker) passed me. I got no problem with being chicked but I did pass her after wishing her well. I figured she'd pass me back but she didn't. I finally got to the 8 mile aid station and I got off the bike to use the port-a-pottie. Felt so good. I came out announcing to the world that I needed to pee for the last 40 miles. The Sherrif who was out of his car and helping remarked "Well, thanks for holding it in" and we all laughed.
Back to the second loop and I see the lead motorcycle with lead male overall come through. Here I am starting my second 48 miles (24 out/24 in) with another 8 after that and he's got 12-14 miles to finish. Did I mention I was flying downhill and he was flying up hill??? I looked at the motorcycle and just shook my head. He in turn, just nodded his head. Wow.
Well, the course got lonely. The halfers were done. Most of the fulls were finishing. I did see 1 guy but he flew away. The woman was stil behind me. Again I stopped to pee at the 8 mile aid station. By the way, I did learn something from my last IM (Kingston). A guy had a coke bottle stashed in his special need bike bag. This time I did too. I drank 1/2 of it the first time I was stopped. Now, I drank the other 1/2 knowing I have a 3 mile trek up a hill. Glad to have done that. It definitly helped.
I asked about the female rider and was told that one of the bosses just drove (more like flew) to her since she needed electrolytes badly and that after that she felt much better. That's awesome HITS does that.
Let me say that the 3 mile up was definitly worse than the 5 mile up. Yes, I was more tired but there were no plateaus at all and it sucked. Other people that I talked to before the start agreed with me. I made it up there. Took a while.
Even though the female relay biker was behind me, she was in a different category and I considered myself completely DFL (Dead Freaking Last). Not a great place to be.
I finally got up there. It felt good to not climb. I got mentally ready for the downhill. There we go...
The 5 mile was crazy. Lots of twists and "S-turns". Crazy stuff. I got cocky. I took a 25 MPH twisty turn at 36 MPH. On the bike, it's different than a car. TRust me on this. I then had a "Oh My God Moment". As I said, I got cocky. If I can do 36 MPH in a 25 then doing 36 MPH in a 20 should not be a big deal, right? WRONG! I realized I wasn't going to make the S-turn. I feathered the brakes enough and aggresively leaned the bike to the left and just made the turn. That was also my cardio moment of the day. I did check by the way and the underwear was still dry. Yes - it was that scary.
I also launched a F-Bomb at someone. I don't ever do that but I did it this time. Mea Culpa. I'm going 36 MPH down a hill. I'm not a car. A car can't stop on a dime. My brakes are considerably smaller. If I slam on the brakes, I could fly over the handle bars (Endo). I really can't stop on a dime. Well, this guy decides to make an illegal U-Turn, crossing over 2 yellow solid lines, on a very narrow street in front of me. His window was open and I'm pretty sure he heard me scream "WHAT THE F ARE YOU DOING?!?". He stopped and I was able to swerve around him (thank God there wasn't any cars on the other side) and continue my way. He followed me down the hill but at a very long distance.
I finally reached the bottom of the hill and went into transition. I was dead last on the bike (again not counting the relay). Sucks. I was surprised that I didn't see Chris on the bike at all and now his bike was missing. Hope he was ok.
Here's a list I came up while going up the 3 and down the 5 why being DFL is a great place to be. In no particular order - it was just the way I thought of them. They all start with "it's great to be DFL because..."
Anyway, into transition. All the bikes are there, well except for Chris'.
I see the relay runner guy waiting for the girl. I tell him what happened and that she should be coming soon. I also ask him for a cup of coke since he's drinking from the aid station next to him anyway.
I get ready and go.
I'm dead last. I can only move up, right? I realized at that point the benefit of being an ultra-marathoner. I'm used to weather. I run all year long. Every day. I have run in extreme cold and extreme heat and while I don't enjoy coming home with minor frostbite, I have been there. So today was HOT and HUMID and sucky and everyones legs were wasted from the bike and I ran. I ran just fine. People were rolling their windows down (halfers going home) screaming at me that I'm running amazing. Runners also were telling me the same. Most everyone was walking the hills. I ran them.
The run was pretty much either up or down. Barely if any flats. The road we were on had a shoulder of about 3 feet. Some of it was with pot holes. Cars were coming at us. They did have us go on pudding road, a dirt road parallel to the main street to avoid the cars, for a little stretch but most of the run was on that road. There was an aid station about 1.25 miles away. From there, straight until you make a left down a hill. Beautiful homes on the lake. Amazing views. Up the hill, of course, to the turn around at 3.275 miles. Go back.
I saw the 2 people from the bike that I wanted to catch. They were about 2.5 miles in front of me. Ok - doable. I hit the turn around and continueed. I caught someone else. Ran with him and his pacer. I was joking around with them and then I left. I eventually caught another runner too. He was a TNT guy. Every so often I caught up with either the first dude or if his pacer was resting then with her. I would joke around with them. Gotta smile. Gotta get people smiling.
My 2.5ish mile deficit was decreasing. I was making time on them. Give me bad weather and enough real estate and I will catch you.
I started hearing about the carnage the field went through. From the 20 people who started the full, only 10 finished. That's a DNF rate of 50%. For the 100 people who started the half, only 56 managed to cross the finish line. That's a 46% rate of DNF. Pretty much identical. That's crazy. Unfortunatly, the results don't show the DNFs. The results look skewed. Oh well.
I heard that Chris finished the swim dead last and was very disheartened. He was done right then. I heard that the number 2 and number 3 overall after the bike both DNFed due to dehydration. One got to ride in a nice van with lights and sounds and a banana bag stuck in him with an IV. Straight to the ER. Another rider was told he was done when it was obvious he fell. Besides the bleeding signs, his helmet had scratches on it. He wanted to continue. The Paramedics said NO. He said YES. They explained to him that there's a chance he has a concussion and that he MUST stop. He eventually listened. There were other stories but I didn't get them all.
I will say that from the field of 10 that finished, about 50% had pacers which is illegal. It's called outside interference. HITS is more relaxed about these things. That said, I get it. Pacers make things a lot easier. The guy who won, had 3 pacers! These guys rode their bikes from I don't remember where all the way to him (took a few days) and then ran the whole marathon with him. Hm...
Each of my 4 loops, brought me closer to those 2 guys. They themselves kept leap frogging each other.
When I ran my first IM, coincidentally with HITS, they didn't mention to bring a headlamp. They didn't say it this time either but I was smarter. I brought mine. I also brought my reflective vest which has blinkers on both front and back. I did put them on at 1 point. To give HITS credit, they did bring headlamps this time.
I'm on my bell lap and their lead is about less than a mile. Unfortunatly, I could not see them because of the hills. If I could only see them. I thought I was closer but they got me by almost 7 minutes. If only I could see them... Oh well. Still, I was happy to crest my last up and down hill to the finish. I crossed the finish line. Done!
Turns out I won my age group. Well, everyone else dropped but I perservered and that matters. I don't give up.
I loaded my car and went to use some indoor plumbing. Who knows when the next opportunity will be.
Stupid moment of the day: Jeremy and I play a game called Ironforce. It's a great tank battle game and every day there are achievments to be made. I didn't finish them this am, so I tried with the crappy sporadic phone coverage. So close...Ran out of fuel with 3 things still to do. Finally, grabbed my bike and put it in the car. As I did that, Dave, transition boss, calls me. He thought I forgot my bike. Nice. I changed clothes near the car. Time to get comfortable.
At 11:40pm, I pulled off the highway and Ironforced again. With my very last fuel, I made my last achievments before midnight. I was happy.
Back on the highway.
I took 2, 20 minute naps that night. Considering I was up since 2am the previous day, that's not enough. It is for me tho.
I got in at about 5:45am into the house or more importantly before anyone was awake. They thought I slept more which was good. I didn't. I showered and then met my crew at Alley Pond for a run.
If I don't show up, they don't. We ran an easy 7.25 miles. It was great.
Home and food and different stuff but eventually, I took a 2 hour nap before lunch. Ate lunch and did 2 laundry's and folded them and organized my things.
Eventually, took Jessie to Kolbeh for a Bar-Mitzvah and I went to Krav Maga. He fo course made us run and some sprints but I was fine. I skipped doing jump squats tho.
From there home. You'd think I would go to sleep early but I still had to pick up Jessie. I was supposed to wake up at 4am to run and swim but last minute, I decided to forego it. I took an extra hour of sleep instead and ran at 5am. I ended up sleeping 6 hours which for me was a day and a half of sleep. I was fine.
All in all a good day. One thing tho. They initially told me I got 2nd for age and gave me my trophy. I realized it's actually first for age and I will email it to them. I want the correct trophy.
| Night before race | Matza Brei with black Olives, can of pineapple chunks, green tea |
|---|---|
| Breakfast | Yogurt, 1/2 cup dried nuts with 1/2 cup of dried fruit, green tea |
| Drive to race | Powerbar |
| Swim | Nothing |
| Bike | 1.5 bottles of Gatorade, 20oz of Coke, 2 powerbars, 10 pretzel nuggets with peanut butter in them (all I had... ) |
| Run | 1 or 2 cupts of Coke at every aid station, 4 Orange slices, 2 grapes and of course most importantly 2 pieces of gum |
