Ironman Lake Placid Race Report

Pre-race

I got to prepare for this race like a real pro. I was teaching a few teacher courses over the summer, but really I just got to train a lot! And sleep enough and not be stressed about my real job. It was fantastic. This is a huge advantage. I mean, HUGE! Granted, pros who always get to only do triathlon also have to pay rent with their winnings, so the pressure is a little different, but if we all could just have sugar daddys or sugar mommas or trust funds or something that would let us train and not have jobs, but also not have the pressure to actually win money, that would make us all about 10-20% faster.

So- with the happy wonder of full-time training, I came to this race really prepared. Matt made me work really hard this summer. Really hard- lots of hills on the bike! I also got to train in the mountains a few times, which was spectacular. Biking is definitely my weakest link, and we were determined to at least lessen the disadvantage, if not actually beat anyone on the bike 😉 The sad thing I learned was that the reason my biking is not great is because I don’t try hard enough. So, over and over in my workouts I really thought about that; not “cadence and bike fit” or “aero position and handing,” but rather, “Stop being a wimp and just make it hurt! Go harder!!” The greatest discovery in this was that the harder I tried on the bike, the more I came to love it! Turns out working hard is really fun!!

Anyway, 2 weeks before Lake Placid I had a “oh my gosh I’m really tired and I just want to go to this race and get it done because I cannot handle any more training.” I wasn’t burned out. Burning out is very mental- I still loved doing my workouts, I just wanted them to be easy and tapery. Really, you shouldn’t need to taper more than about 7 days for an Ironman, but I really like taper and was hoping to taper about 4 weeks- ha! I also got a cold. Now, I have really never had a cold. I have only ever had mono and a bacteria I got in Peru. So the 2 times I’ve been sick have been pretty much not fun at all. So, in having this cold and also wanting to taper, I was sending some pretty ridiculous emails to Matt. “I want to do my workouts, but I can’t breathe without coughing and I’m so tired and blah blah blah.” Poor Matt. I haven’t gotten around to buying any data equipment, so I train on perceived effort. That means I also do all my workout write-ups only on my perceptions, so they are decidedly emotional and not factual at all. Sometimes I think I forget that someone else reads them and I just write in them like a diary. “I was just sad and worn down going into this because my students were . . . . . and then the guy I like was . . . . and then my grandma is sick and . . . .” I mean, it is amazing that Matt continues to read these things. I actually think one workout log was titled “WHY IS THIS WEEK SO HARD?!” Luckily, I trusted Matt and when he said, “If you feel icky, cut back,” I did and I missed the first workout I’ve missed since having mono last year and tried not to go crazy about how that was going to ruin me for triathlon for the rest of my life. Again, if only I could get the calm, not stressed feeling 2 weeks out instead of the day of. :-/

Well, as they do, the cold went away and I got some good final weekend training and then had Monday and Tuesday to move into my new classroom, which was a perfect task to distract me from being even more crazy than I was already being.

On Thursday I left really early for Lake Placid. I flew into Burlington, Vermont and was going to take a cab to the ferry and then ferry across to where my mom was meeting me after driving up from New York City where she had stopped to see my brother.

But on the plane I sat next to a really nice gentleman who turned out to be the Attorney General for the state of Vermont and he and his girlfriend offered me a ride down to the Ferry. Yay for saving $15!! And nice people! Also, since I am very liberal, I was quite excited when a call came through on the car’s speaker-phone from Howard Dean and we got to chat with him for a while. Will, who was giving me a ride, had been in Dean’s cabinet when he was the governor of Vermont. Cool! Somewhat irrelevant but still slightly famous people!

Ferry across was beautiful and I arrived exactly when my mom did. We drove into Lake Placid, which is one of the cutest places I have ever been. All the towns leading up to it were adorable and there is all sorts of Adirondack furniture and Ironman was ALL OVER THE PLACE! It was amazing- just flags everywhere and the churches all had little Ironman signs and bible quotes relevant to Ironman. (We were driving in on part of the bike course). It was great.

Then, in Lake Placid it is Ironman and Olympics mania! I love the Olympics, so I was totally caught up in the cheesiness of the fact that this town hosted the Olympics 33 years ago and is still living the Olympic dream.

It was about 5:30, but Andrew at TriBike Transport waited for me so that I could pick up my bike even though they were supposed to close at 5:00- fantastic! I ran into Eric Kenney and chatted with him and exchanged good lucks and then headed out to our condo.

On Friday, I got to get in the water for the first time and oh my gosh but sight lines are incredible! There is a rope under the water that you can just follow- so cool! So I did 1 full loop (it’s a 2 loop course) of the swim and it was easy and you didn’t have to worry about normal practice swim things like running into people or boats or anything because everyone is on the course and that area of the lake isn’t open to boats and it was really nice!

We drove the bike course and I just remember thinking, “We’re still going downhill. Oh my gosh- we’re still going down. How can we possible still be descending? I’m going to have to come back up all of this? AAAAHHHH!” Honestly, the course is stunning. I mean, magical rivers and greenery and waterfalls and meadows and just beautiful quaint towns and then little mountain ski villages that look like the alps- absolutely incredible!

I got out about mile 40 to ride back to town (yay for mom as a chauffer. She was so helpful and just makes what could be a stress and logistics nightmare really easy). I rode the “big climb” back to town and actually didn’t think it was too bad. It was definitely up, but I felt like every time I was about to be really sick of climbing, it would flatten out a little and you’d get your spin back and actually gain some momentum and feel like it was a doable course. Then, just when I’d get cocky about how fast I was going to be able to climb, it would pitch back up again. So- perfect balance.

I got back and I checked in and visited my friend Scott at the Newton tent (I love Newtons!) and he assured me that the hill I had described as “not too bad!” would be quite a bit worse the 2nd time around on race day. I remembered his words as I faded my way up it on Sunday. Then I had my pre-race pro meeting. I didn’t really know anyone there. I knew everyone’s names, but hadn’t really met anyone officially, so I didn’t want to say hello and stalk people. Pro meetings are interesting. Pros are decidedly type A (as are most of us triathletes) and the race director and officials are all exhausted from planning things and it seems the meetings take quite a bit of time. We spend ages talking about how the 2nd loop of the swim would work with the rolling start. We were worried we would get out of the first loop and be smashing into waves of people on the beach trying to get in the water. (It turned out they finished the waves a few minutes before I made it around. Andy might have run into a few, but I think they were keeping age groupers to one side). Then we went over the new littering rules. “Intentional littering” is now a 4 minute penalty, which I think is great- let’s not ruin the beautiful places we get to ride and run. However, the official said that handing another competitor a tube or CO2 or a water bottle would count as intentional literally and dropping of gear because you had done it on purpose. I think he was just using a little hyperbole to be like, “We are really taking this seriously- do not drop stuff on the course,” but holy cow veryone freaked out about how that was unsportsmanlike and it wouldn’t be littering if you were handing it to someone else and on and on and on until finally they called the race director and he told the official that if it wasn’t tossed where no one was then it wouldn’t count. Ha! I’m not exaggerating when I say that was a 15 minute argument. On top of the 20 minutes we spent on the swim and the discussion of what side of the yellow line you have to run on and who knows what else (it’s all the exact same stuff they go over in the AG meeting, I don’t know why they don’t just have everyone do the same one), it was about 1:40 by the end and I was soooo hungry!

Ate at Lake Placid Lodge down below our condo and it was just super beautiful. I know I’ve said this before, but it is soooooo beautiful up there! Then I took a nap.

View from lunch 

Athlete dinner:

I went to the athlete welcome dinner that night. I don’t know why people ever skip these- wow! Spectacular. We were in the Herb Brooks Arena, the site of the 1980 Miracle win when USA hockey beat the USSR. If you haven’t seen the movie and weren’t lucky enough to watch it live on TV, you need to see the movie!! Because of Boston, we couldn’t take backpacks in, but my condo was far away and my mom and uncle had the car, so I just had to leave my stuff outside. I took everything out of my bag, I thought, and went in. Turns out my chip may have remained in that bag. Oops.

The welcome dinner was yummy and super inspiring! They had an Ironman Lake Placid torch that they ran in and Andy Potts got to light the final torch and they played Olympic music and I cried with inspiration and excitement. So cool! They had a few different Ironman videos they played, which I always like, and then the Mayor of Elba county spoke. He was HILARIOUS!! A couple of the the inappropriate but hilarious things he talked about:

A secret place where you can sign up for Lake Placid 2014 without your spouse knowing. And special counselors for people after their spouses find out they have signed up for Ironman. And also special rules on how to pay less Alimony.

The fact that they gave out 10,000 condoms in the Olympic village and he wanted to do that for Ironman, but he realized most of us didn’t even know what sex was: “You’d probably be more likely to use the condoms for some sort of compression.”

He also made fun of Rick Reilly being the Pope of Ironman and gave him a hat:

Pope Rick Reilly

On Saturday I swam biked and ran again and was done at about 10am. Took a nap, turned in my gear and realized I didn’t have a chip- tried to work that out, but they told me it should be done on race day. Then I basically just ate, read and rested all afternoon. Made huge dinner and ate massive amounts of veggie chicken pasta and went to bed early.

It took me a long time to fall asleep, but once I did, I slept really well from around 10:30 until 3:30. Oh Ironman sleep.

Race Day!

Up at 3:40 (transition opened at 4:30 instead of 5) and ready to race. Shoved my breakfast in even though I wasn’t hungry at all and headed down. My mom and I found an awesome parking spot and I went to get marked and try to find a chip. I met and introduced myself to some of the other women pros- they were all really nice! And I chatted with Danielle Kehoe about how her friend from high school was my mom’s student teacher. (She’s quite young and a total badass). Then I talked to Dede Griesbauer about how I have her autograph on a t-shirt from when I went to Stanford Swim Camp at age 11. She was a 10 time all American there. I told her I had swam there as well and she was like, “What’s your last name.” I said, “I promise you have never heard of me. I didn’t actually score any points.” (I was right, she hadn’t heard of me).

Then I pumped up my tires and as I pulled of the pump, snap PPPPSSSSSSSSS- popped the valve. Shoot.

This is why I get to transition right when it opens no matter what. I usually have something stupid I’ve forgotten (two races now that I’ve shown up without a chip) and something is bound to go not exactly according to plan. I changed the tire with my spare, but then didn’t want to do the ride without a spare. Luckily, smart bike people can fix stuff like broken valves. I took it to the mechanics (no line! I mean, a line for air, but no line for mechanics- incredible) and they just basically screwed it back in. Yay.

Danielle complimented me on how calm I was. I do think I get to race day and there is sort of this, um, inevitability (?) of it that is actually less stressful. I realize by then that stressing is just a waste of energy (wish I could do that a few weeks earlier- oh well). So yeah, I was calm. I figured they would help me out and if not, I’d hope not to get a flat or I would run into the bike mechanic guys. I’ve gotten a flat in Ironman before and it wasn’t the end of the world. Luckily I didn’t have to use the spare, though I’m very happy I had it.

I headed down to drop of my special needs bags and sit with my mom trying to be calm before the race. I had a lot of time even with needing to get a chip and fix my tire and I got to spend it watching a really spectacular sunrise. I mean, just beautiful pink amazingness! Finally put on my fantastic Freak of Nature and headed into the swim area. They were letting us warm up, so I swam out about 150 yds and came back and got some water and saw Hillary Biscay crying on the side of the fence. It turns out she was sick and didn’t get to race  She must have been feeling pretty awful- she’s done 62 Ironman races and I think she could do one in her sleep!

Spectacular sunrise!

I wished the few people I had met good luck and then we sang the national anthem, I cried with anticipation and then it seemed like the men were off.

Singing the national anthem. He told us to “join him” so I did, though

I honestly stayed quiet- hard to believe, but true). Also- look at my abs! 😉

There were only about 15 women, so right when we started, I got clear water, could see everyone and pulled out front- yay! We got to start in the water, which was lucky for me because I have been pretty crappy at beach starts this year. I was hoping I had dropped everyone, but no luck- Stanford swimmers are tough- Dede was right on my feet. She was actually a great drafter. She touched my feet about every 100 yds just to remind me to keep going, I think. It also felt like sometimes she sort of shoved me forward as she bumped into my feet. Thanks for the push, Dede! As we came around the first loop Mike Riley announced, “Dede Griesbauer leading the women out on the first lap.” That got me fired up. “She is not! I am leading!!” We ran into the age groupers about 200 yds into the 2nd lap, but I stayed right and they stay fairly clustered thanks to the rope line. It was sooooooo easy to sight. I just swam calm and strong and tried not to ever spike my heart rate, but not to get too complacent (that’s when Dede would push me forward). The turn buoy provided the first sort of crazy crowds and I felt a little bad for smashing over people, but sorry- places to be!). I had a little trouble following the line on the 2nd loop, but the buoys were numbered and only 100 yds apart and while it was a little choppy from all the people, it wasn’t wavy, so sighting was sooooo easy. It makes for a fast swim! The final turn into the beach was really crowded with people walking from water that was like chest deep- swim until you literally cannot swim any more, people! Wasting energy! I just sort of weaved around everyone and probably smacked a few butts on my recovery and got to the beach about 10 seconds in front of Dede. Yay- 1/3 done! (Sort of).

Swim time 52:05. PR and first time that I was the fastest Pro swimmer! Yay!

This time they announced my name and I was running up that ramp pretty dang happy!! I skipped the wetsuit strippers (thanks for the advice, Scott) because they are right on the beach and you don’t have time to get your wetsuit down to a reasonable pull off place before you get to the them- I figured I could run and pull it off (it’s about a 400 meter run to the change tent) and then do my feet in the change tent. Grabbed my bag and had nice volunteers helping me. I don’t really need much help- shoes, sunglasses, helmet is it, so it goes quickly. Ran out of the tent and screamed “GO STANFORD!” back to Dede. Apparently I inspired her because she passed me right away on the bike- hehe!

This is me coming out of the water. Yikes.

BIKE:

The start of the bike was hard! Well, easy trip out of town, but then it actually climbs quite a bit. You can see the climb on the profile map, but it looks so small compared to the climb at the end of the bike. I don’t know if it was just that I didn’t mentally prepare for it or what, but I honestly found the first 7 miles the hardest of the first loop of the bike.

That being said, I kept reminding myself that I could see Dede in front of me and she was riding with 2 Pro males and if I was anywhere near some Pro males, then I was obviously hanging in there at least reasonably.

Oh! It was POURING at this point. Like really big rain drops and lots. I was a little nervous for the descent (because it is huge and awesome), but it actually wasn’t a problem. Yay for having a good bike, I think, and practicing putting pressure on my outside foot! There was one section of the descent where the road was just a mess. It was sort of just little tiny bumps and I was positive I had a flat. I luckily did not stop or anything- I figured I was still going 30mph or something, so it wasn’t that big of a deal and I could figure it out at an aide station or when the little bike-tech motorcycle went by. Of course, when I got back on even pavement, I was able to ride fine, so yay- no flat!

Again- the descent was awesome. I mean, I got crushed by all these guys going by, but it was still really fun- no breaking because it wasn’t that scary and it always either flattened out or you could see where you were going, so you felt safe. Plus- it was beautiful!

At the bottom of the flats, I really tried to push it. Matt and I had made a plan to really try hard on the bike. I worked A LOT on my biking this summer and it is still definitely the weakest link, but I wanted to at least keep myself in the race. But, of course, you are about 2 hours into a nearly 10 hour race, so you don’t really want to blow it all. It is a balance I am working on. I also made sure to eat. I had a pretty mediocre race at St. George and one thing that I think happened was that I was hungry on the bike. I don’t really feel hungry when I ride, but I sometimes just get in a bad mood and know that I am low on fuel. So I ate a powerbar about every hour or hour and a half and kept alternating water and perform and just pushing my pedals as evenly as I could- steady, hard cadence. I was in aero this whole time and I kind of wanted to sit up, but I kept reminding myself that I was going to have plenty of time sitting up and being out of the saddle in the 2nd half of the loop, so I stayed down. There is a very long out and back (maybe 5 or 6 miles each way) from about mile 20-30 and I was happy to see Andy Potts on that. I don’t know why, I mean, I didn’t think he was 12 miles in front of me, but it still made me feel fast.

I also got to see Dede in front of me and a lot of girls chasing me! Dede was about 5 minutes up and Carrie Lester was about 2 down, followed by Danielle Kehoe, and Jennie Hansen (future winner) about 5 or 6 minutes back. I decided to make it to the next out and back without being caught. Just little by little make it through the bike course. After the out and back you turn up a pretty big hill and basically have to be on it for the rest of the loop. I mean, lots of rollers, but they just roll up. My friend said he was riding with a guy who asked, “How long is this hill?” And he said, “Only back to Lake Placid ;-)” (Keep in mind you are at mile 30 at this point).

Luckily on the next out and back I had still not been caught, but Lester was only about 1 minute back. The rest of the girls weren’t visible (short out and back) and that was motivating. Plus, I had made it to the point where I had done my warm up ride and I felt great! I was at about 1:50 maybe in bike time and had been hoping to ride 2:45. I knew that my warm up ride was only an hour and I figured I could beat my time. I had ridden relatively hard on the Friday ride, but race day is different. I was so happy to know that part of the course because the last 11 miles are toted as “The famed 11 mile climb back to Lake Placid.” And they are all a climb, but there are some low grades and some steep parts, and maybe no real downhills, but at least some flat parts where you are in your big ring for a bit. One of those flat sections is actually pretty long. So, knowing that was there was really motivating because the start of the climb is tough and I would have been demoralized had I not known I’d get a little break!

This doesn’t look like a place where I should be out of aero. I think it was more up than it looks. Also- it was rainy!!

Eating on the bike- Powerbars are yummy!

The best part was there were cheerers everywhere! All sorts of people hanging out in their Adirondack chairs ringing cow bells- fun! And hilarious signs. One was really inappropriate, but very funny: “You can put your gel in my bento box any time.” Another set was by Bob’s family (I only know his name because it was on the signs). They had obviously taken 100s of photos of him making ridiculous faces and then plastered them around the course with funny little messages. But the signs were huge! And all over! I think I saw 20 Bob signs (Which means they were every 2.5 miles!).

At the end of the climb, you have 3 hills: Mama Bear, Baby Bear (just a little bump) and Papa Bear. They were PACKED with people. Guys had signs up that said, “Smile if you peed on the bike,” so I raised my hand and smiled and they cheered like crazy. I did, of course, pee on the bike, though this was a tough course for it- all the downhills are right at the start, and I can’t pee on an uphill, so you sort of don’t get a chance to pee for the last 40 miles. The good thing was it was pouring! So it didn’t matter that you got pee on you because it quickly rinsed off!

The next time around those guys were asking people to do wheelies, which is quite hard up a hill, but I succeeded and they went crazy again- it was fantastic. Oh. Somewhere along there Carrie Lestor passed me and I said, “Go get her!” but then she got a penalty, so I passed her back. I figured she would catch back up to me, but I was also happy to know that I was within 4 minutes of her (since that’s how long you have to stop for a drafting penalty).

So, passing her put me in 2nd coming into town and everyone was cheering like mad! “Go girl!!” And “Only 7 minutes to DEDE!” and “Climbing and still smiling!” I am not joking when I say my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Plus- I was under pace and was fired up about it! I had felt smooth and great even on the climb and I was ready for the 2nd loop knowing that the first section was the hardest. I came around the corner by the transition and my mom was jumping up and down cheering and it made me so happy. I was just really really happy.

People ask what I think about on the bike and I mostly think about biking, but I also have little conversations with myself: “Wow- I feel amazing!” “Yes- that’s because you are at mile 35 of 112 and still have all of the climbing of the course left.” “but I feel amazing!” “Let’s try to feel amazing when we are back here next time.”

2nd loop the start was really hard again, but at least I was expecting it. Lestor came by again, as expected (though I stayed in front for enough miles to know I wasn’t riding 30 minutes slower than she). I told her, “I figured you would be back by here.” She said, “Ugh! Caught up in a group of male age groupers. Yuck. What can you do?!” I said, “You’re going so fast- go catch her!” And she said, “Thanks- keep it up.” All of the women in this race were really nice!! What I was really thinking was, “Oh my gosh- you are fast enough to draft off these guys?!” Because I couldn’t have drafted off any of the people who had passed me even if I’d wanted to.

Actually, that was interesting- especially in the 2nd loop, there were some bigger “packs” forming (though only 1 group that I thought was pretty sketchy and clearly creating slip streams for each other- the other ones just looked like people in the process of passing each other), but I really rode the bike all by myself the whole time. And I mean all by myself. I would say for 50% of the ride I couldn’t even see anyone in front of me. Because of the out and backs, I knew where I was (and I could look at my time) and so I actually think it was really helpful. I very much got to ride my own race. In fact, on the 2nd loop, when I saw Jennie and Danielle together (legally together) right behind me, I was thinking, “Okay- maybe they’ll blow each other up on this ride and I can beat them on the run!”

What I probably should have been thinking was, “Okay- when they go past you, go with them, lazy bum!”

The wind picked up the 2nd loop, which I thought made the out and back harder. I was trying to speed up the 2nd loop (or at least effort up and stay the same), and I did for the first section of up/down/flat rollers, but then I hit a little bit of a low point. I was tired!

The first trip up the final climb had been so fun because it was easier than it could have been and there were so many fun things to look at and people cheering. But then I got my expectations up and I think I forgot about the hard part without any people cheering. And also I was tired. I mean, I was still feeling fine and not vomiting and really forcing myself to eat (I really did not want to eat the powerbar I had planned for about 4 hours in. I just said “take 1 bite and you can put it away. Okay- get it out and take 1 more bite” and sort of got it in me. After ½ of it, I got hungry again and shoved the rest down. That improved my mood as well- yay for eating! At the start of the climb, Jennie passed me. I had seen her on the short out and back only about 1 minute back, so I knew she was coming, but I’d also seen Danielle still about 5 minutes back and was very proud to be holding her off at least a little bit (she did outsplit me by a lot, but that’s okay- that girl is really fast! And from Boulder- yay!).

When Jennie passed me, I actually stayed in touch relatively well. I think I can climb fairly well and I don’t train with power, so I’m sort of good on my climbs and then lazy on my not climbs, I think. But, considering she gained a minute between mile 40 and 45, I was happy she only made up another 30 seconds or so by mile 56- good job, me!

At this point I just kept telling myself “Get to the bear hills. That’s where all the people are and it will be awesome.” I was also finally in a place where the age groupers that were passing me were slow enough that I could sort of stay in touch, which helped. Even when you aren’t in a draft zone, it still helps a lot to see people in front of you. Those miles where the only miles I really rode with other people in sight.

I got to do my wheelie- (success! Jennie may have beaten me overall by 7 minutes, but she did not do a wheelie- point me. hehe). I got very fired up as we entered town and was catching up to the guy in front of me and I kept yelling “Go!! We’re done- go! I don’t want to slow down not to draft now- go!!” I don’t think he actually heard me, it was more to myself. I just had to sit up once to stay out of his draft zone on a little downhill about 1 mile from the finish.

2nd loop was decidedly slower than the first, but as compared to some of the other racers, I fell off the pace less than they did. (They beat me both loops, but I take my bike successes where I can get them!). I almost missed getting my shoes off because I got distracted by everyone cheering, but got them quickly and just in time, into transition and surprised to see Jennie still changing (The course is curvy enough that I hadn’t seen her for the last 6 miles at least).

Bike time: 5:32 (nearly my 5:30 goal, but not quite. Still- PR on a course that is rated 5-10 minutes slower than Cabo and CdA, so yay!). Beat by 12 minutes by the fastest women’s bike split, though, so still some room to improve. Also beat by 50 minutes by Andy Potts 😉

Happy to be off the bike in 4th place with a new PR. I’ve never been better than 10th!

I transitioned fast! The transition ladies are very helpful and I had very little to do. I did want to make sure I had sunscreen and they promised there were sunscreeners outside. So I passed Jennie in transition, but outside the tent I stopped for sunscreen (I probably didn’t need it- it was very overcast and rainy (perfect running weather!!), but I learned my lesson about sunscreen in Cabo, so I was happy to give up 4 seconds to avoid being fried. (Also, it keeps your body temp cool, so it’s faster). The sunscreeners had obviously not had anyone come through requesting sunscreen yet, so I did a little bit of yelling, “Sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen- all over!!!!” She started slowly and I just took the giant squirt bottle and covered myself.

I really like my facial expression here. I think I’m just drinking water, but it looks as though I have assessed a situation (my transition) and given it an “okay. Nothing to smile about but we’ll take it.” I imagine myself nodding as I say that.

The run:

Jennie left transition 2 seconds in front of me and by the time I got down the hill I think she was 3 minutes up. That girl was running fast! (She actually ran 30 seconds faster/mile for the first 3 miles than I did. I did take a bathroom break in there, but still- wow!). Actually, I had a lead biker and it was weird because I didn’t want to just disappear into the bathroom, so I felt like a kid in the backseat of the car. “Um- I have to pee! Can we stop for a second?”

Anyway, I knew who Jennie was from people yelling “Go Jennie!” She had run from 5th into 2nd last year at Lake Placid and was a runner in college, so I stuck with my plan and settled in instead of going out like what my soccer coach used to call a “screaming banshee out of hell.”

When I get off the bike, I feel like there is a reverse treadmill effect. You have been going so fast (relative to running) that even quite quick miles (like 7 min/mi) feel extraordinarily slow. When you get off a treadmill, the world seems to rush at you- when you get off a bike, it seems to crawl toward you. So it is hard to go slow. Plus you are excited! But, I had learned my lesson in CdA- there is no reason to run 6:30s for the first 2 miles of an Ironman.

I just kept telling myself to be really calm until mile 10. I actually slowed down a few times trying to be controlled. And I had a biker! Awesome. She had never been a biker before and was so sweet and very nervous that she wasn’t helping me out enough. When she saw my mom cheering, she actually asked my mom to find out if I needed anything from her- so sweet!! My mom said, “Katy’s pretty vocal- she’ll probably tell you.” Understatement.

I was having fun and running smoothly and calmly and we were going downhill, so I felt great. Plus, I saw Dede and Carrie on the run. Dede looked pretty spent (because she had crushed us on the bike), and even though she was probably 6 minutes up, I figured I had already made up 3 and I could catch her. My dumb thought was that even if I got passed by someone, if I caught Dede, I could still have a biker. The first loop the biker isn’t really necessary, but it’s still sort of fun and it makes people cheer for you, which I love! There were only 4 of them, so I kind of wanted to keep my place. (I had other reasons I wanted to keep my place, too).

At the turn around, I timed how far back people were. Danielle was maybe 5 minutes back, but looked tired. Granted, I look at photos of myself and I look really tired, too, so I knew that was no guarantee. She is tough. I also saw Kristin Andrews who looked ridiculously strong and smooth. I didn’t actually know who she was, but I had assumed from results I had seen. I said good job to all of them and checked my pace. I also saw an age grouper who said, “I’m just an age grouper!” when she saw me checking my watch. I actually was just checking my watch for a mile marker (I always check times, but I do it after people are out of sight no I don’t look nervous- hehe). I said, “Yay- you’re crushing it!” I don’t care if she’s an age grouper- awesome. I think she did actually win the amateur and she definitely out-biked me!

I was a little scared of Kristin and Danielle, but did a really nice job just running my own race. Easy to mile 10. This is not the time to race people. You have 20 mile left! My bike lady said, “Let’s get you up to third!”

The run course is really nicely divided: you head way downhill out of town and then run along the ski jumps and there are quite a few spectators. Then you have a 3ish mile out and back that just curves and winds and rolls along a beautiful road and there was no one out there. You return the way you came and then there is an out and back in town along the lake you have swum in. It was set up for all the tri team tents and the whole section through town (about 2 miles each way) was madness. I mean, crazy people screaming and cheering. While town was the craziest, everyone was cheering. Even the photographer at mile 5 and 17 was like, “Oh- looking good up that hill. Yeah, work those arms. You all look fantastic,” like he was doing a shoot for a magazine or something. So cool! All the aid station volunteers were cheering, too, and even the policemen! It was stupendous. I love Lake Placid!

When I got to mile 10 (still out of town), I decided to continue being calm, but to just pick my cadence up a little bit. This ended up being perfect timing- I slowly trodded up the hill (there is absolutely no reason to run hills fast in an Ironman- why spike your HR in a 10 hour race unless you are at the finishline?). But, right at the top of the hill, I finally got a glimpse of Dede in front of me. Cool! I passed her and told her our Stanford swim coach would have been proud and she said, “Go get them, girl!” Did I mention that everyone was really nice?

Jennie still looked like she was running crazy fast and had maybe just passed Carrie. Carrie looked strong, but I felt like I was gaining. I got a new bike guy, and also got a little more tired. I was definitely not as chatty with him as I was with the first lady, but I still felt smooth and very within myself. Plus, I was about to go way downhill for a while. I decided to pick it up a little more in this section and use my downhills for easy speed.

Also my bike lead was ahead telling everyone my name, so as I went by people screamed “GO KATY!!!!” So cool! (I think that was the 4th place lead biker, pre passing Dede. Either way, it was wonderful).

I was also trying to follow my salt tab and gel plan. I had a little stomach ache, but nothing crazy and was getting a little tired around mile 14. I screamed for a gel but just was too far up in an aid station so I missed it. That was when I really appreciated my biker- I asked him if he could request one at the next aid station (2nd loop they were quite crowded) and so they had it ready.

Actually, on the first loops I was trying to get a gel and I had dropped it. I know volunteers get such crap from us tired athletes so I yelled “So sorry! My fault!” and then suddenly 50 meters up the road this guy comes sprinting up next to me to hand me a gel. Yes!! I threw my hands in the air to clap for him and his whole aid station cheered, too- Volunteers rock! (That was still on the first loop, so there weren’t too many people yet). Sometimes on the 2nd loop I felt bad as I came through the aid stations and just ripped everything I could out of people’s hands and took stuff that I’m sure other racers were planning on grabbing. By then a lot of people are walking aid stations, so I sort of felt like a bitch barreling through :-/

Downhill running means my feet get off the ground- yes!

Also around here my sunglasses nose piece broke. I’m not sure what happened but the pad came off and was sort of blocking my vision- I kept thinking there was a bug on my lens. I tried for a while to reattach it as I ran, but no luck. The great thing was, it was so beautifully cloudy that I just put them on top of my visor and ran without. I had just come down the big hill and with wet socks and shoes from sweating and rain I felt like my feet kept sliding way forward in my shoes. I was a little worried about blisters, but I figured there was no need to worry about the future, and I mostly had uphill left, which wouldn’t be too bad. Plus, it dried out a little at that point and my wicking socks kicked ass, so it ended up not being too big of a problem.

Around mile 15 I saw Hillary Biscay. She had gotten sick and so didn’t race (she has done 61 Ironmans- whoa!). She said, “Great job, Katy! You are running faster than Carrie- go get her.” I was so overwhelmed that Hillary Biscay had actually called me by name, I was thrilled! I’d had a lot of people tell me, “2nd place is right up there- 2 minutes.” And other things like that. But, I think sometimes runners forget that they are moving forward toward me, so when they say 2 minutes, it’s really more like 4 because they moved 2 minutes in the other direction. Hillary’s confirmation that I was actually gaining felt honest- I mean she has done 61 Ironmans, so I figured she knew what was going on!

At that point it started to feel a little surreal. Could I really run down 2nd place in a pro field at an Ironman? How exciting! Stay calm. I should say, here, that the women I was racing were amazing and kind and very fast, but it was also a low points race for Kona- had MB, Rachel Joyce, Kessler or Leanda Cave been there, I probably would have moved down a few places, but who cares- I was executing my plan and running quite well and racing the people who were there that day.

So I finally get to the out and back part of the run and everyone is telling me that 2nd place is right around the corner, but I couldn’t see her at all. It is quite winding, but I still figured if she were right there, I’d catch a glimpse. At one point my lead biker said, “They keep saying she’s right there, but I cannot see her.” He also waved to a guy and told me it was his dentist and how great a dentist he was. Ha!

At this point I was in the mode. I hadn’t been chatty, but I’d been very smiley and when people were playing music on the side of the road, I danced (highlights were Party in the USA, Eye of the Tiger and some awesome rap some from when I was in college that I can’t remember right now, but I did my rapper dance arms as I went by) and just interacted. Around mile 15 when I left the crowds, I stopped being like that. I was just straight ahead running and focused. I even almost missed Doug Maclean (7th male pro- yay Doug) when he yelled for me and I completely missed Jody when he did. However, I was still in a really good place. I honestly didn’t have any low moments on the run. I had “wow- I’m tired and I hope I can keep this up” moments, but no demoralized moments. I was very happy. As I came up to the turn around I saw Jennie way in front and told her she was awesome and was winning an Ironman or probably more of a mumble. Then I saw Carrie and she looked tired, but not that tired. I mean, same tired that I imagined I looked. But then I immediately saw the turn around- I was within a minute- oh my gosh! I then basically sprinted to catch her. It wasn’t on purpose it was just that sometimes it is like a homing device and once you sort of lock on to the person it is easier to pull them in.

I also was sure that mile 20 was right around the turn around, but it was mile 19. Ugh. I hadn’t been great at my splits- normally I’m a mathematician during the run and I love calculating mile splits, but I just didn’t do a good job this time. I kept getting confused with my overall race time and my run time and not remembering what I was adding up from. It probably worked for the better- the course was so hilly in one section that paces are all over the board for everyone and it wouldn’t have been very helpful to be trying to run steady. Or, I was running steady, but that wouldn’t have been reflected in even split times.

Anyway, caught Carrie! She is a smart racer though and I could visibly see her speed up as my biker started to catch her. Dangit, Carrie- just make this easy for me! I luckily had a great high school cross country couch who taught us how to pass so I busted by- I kept my breath calm and said, “Great job! Come run with me ” smile smile smile, when I really was thinking, “Please please please drop down to 9 minute miles so I don’t have to worry about you catching me.” Then I sprinted the next mile. Ha- I wasn’t really sprinting, but I definitely was trying to get out of her sight. I surged over a hill and was like, “Okay- that was dumb- I’m so tired!” But I actually think it was great and got me into a new pace and rhythm. It’s just a rhythm run.

I am posting this pic because my arm looks awesome. Yep- just a superficial pic. I have very large swimmer arms that sometimes just look large. Here, it looks cool and defined.

I also saw Kristin and Danielle again, Kristin still 5 or 6 minutes back and I figured I was safe. I didn’t think she was going to run under 6:30s for the last 7 miles and I was pretty sure I could stay under 7:30s, so that was nice.

And then I just ran. My bike lady knew everyone (you switch for each place, so I now had the 2nd place lead biker) and was cheering for them all and telling me “Once you get to the ski jumps, the crowd will pull you in.” And “10K! Anyone can do a 10K!” I was just thinking about cadence and dropping my shoulders (which I was much more successful of in my head than in actuality). I still felt quite smooth, but I was working pretty hard. I did at that point realize that I was going to PR and was pretty fired up about that! Still- 10k seems so short in terms of the 140 miles you do in an Ironman, but it is not short at the end of the day. I was just really in focus mode and thinking about nothing but cadence and marking off miles and not looking back to see if Carrie was right behind me. Don’t let them see you look! Hehe! It was hard- 4 miles of trying not to look back! There was a math problem sign on the course that was “What is 56+35-11?” I was able to solve it, so I figured I was at least relatively with it. 80! Then the answer sign says, “56+35-11=79” It was perfect because I spent a good 400 yds thinking, “It does not. I cannot wait to make Mike Reilly tell these people they don’t know how to add.” And then I came upon the next sign that said, “Just kidding- it’s 80!”

At this point, again, I was counting down miles. I promised myself I could count steps at mile 22, but I just had to calmly and quickly run there. I honestly was busting. I mean, I wasn’t running track repeats and my breathing was controlled and I was smooth, but it was hard. It was the great kind of hard where I think I could have kept up the pace for a long time, but it was definitely tempo pace. I love tempo runs!

Finally, at mile 22 I let myself start counting. A little early, but I knew I’d have lots of crowds the last two miles and maybe not need to count. The only bad thing about counting is that you don’t pay attention to the people around you and the wonderful crowds at all, but I was done with that for the time being and didn’t have extra energy to put into responding to them.

Smiling very much motivates me and I love cheers and I love reacting to people and just being engaged in the whole experience- I think it is an energy booster, definitely. Plus, sometimes I just cannot help but smile because I’m having such a good time- the end of the first loop of the bike- I could do nothing about it if I had tried! All the transitions, and when I was running through town or when I’d notice that I was hitting paces- cannot help buy smile!

But I also think there is a time when the race is less about staying happy and calm and experiencing everything and more about just fucking running. So that was mile 22-24. Two sets of 100,100,90,90,80,80 plus the aid stations and I finished 2 miles. Fantastic. And then you are at the bottom of the huge hill into town (huge might not be the right adjective- it is quite short, but it’s definitely steep. It’s like maybe 1.5 Ruby hills, but you are going slower than on those repeats.

Maybe I should spend more time in focus mode. I don’t know- I think the mental side of Ironman is much easier for me because I’m loving it than it would be if I were trying to be in death mode the whole time. Maybe not, though. Maybe that’s what being tough is about. ??

Just before the hill back into town one of my blisters broke. It didn’t actually hurt, I just noticed it. At that point, I didn’t care- I had about 3 miles left. I probably could have been a little bolder on that hill into town and the next mile, but it’s scary in an Ironman, so I was calm up the hill and out to the out and back. Around mile 25, I really started picking it up. I was still counting a little bit, but also just smiling and my lead biker was throwing her arms in the air to get the crowd to cheer and I was fired up. At one somewhat crowded aid station, I actually sort of wove through the crowds and left my biker behind, that’s how fast I started running.

This is my awesome lead biker getting the crowd fired up for me.

Also- a better photo of what I normally look like running: shoulders hunched, both feet very near the ground and one arm way across my body. Whatever- it got me to the finish line! Also- I had barely passed mile 24 at this point- look at the crowd- it was packed for over 2 miles!!

It is silly, though confirmed by lots of viewing Ironman finishes: You think you are maybe not going to make it and then suddenly you could run 50 miles all out with the crowds around you and the finish music and the happiness. There were so many people out!! The actual oval where you finish was really not as crowded as the roads (because everyone was out cheering for all their family still), but it didn’t matter- there is the finish line and I am crossing it in an 8 minute PR with a swim bike and run PR (3 PRs on the day! Including stand alone marathon PR) and I’m in 2nd place. What? It was awesome!!

I blew a kiss to my bike lady to thank her and ran into the stadium!

I kept my arms up for a long time to make sure that I got a good finisher photo and then I tried to wave at the camera so people tracking could say hello.

Very happy. And very tired! (Also looks like I’m holding the sign)

Post race:

I got interviewed- so cool. I have this ridiculous wide eyed, giggly and, of course, loud interview on Ironman live tracking if you want to see it. The said, “You were smiling all day. Was it as fun and easy as it looked?” I said, “Wow! I’m impressed it looked easy. No. It was definitely not easy, but it was definitely as fun as it looked!” Which was totally true! I also got interviewed by the local newspapers and got quoted in some of them. One very valley-girl quote: “A few miles into the bike I just realized, like, God, I love this!” Good sentiment, but maybe could have dropped the “like” and the “God.” Oh well. I was tired and full of adrenaline. I was happy to watch Jennie’s interview and see that she also has the post race fast-talking, wide eyed answers (though I think she was a little less giggly and a little more eloquent. Also quieter).

Then I took some trips to the bathroom. Yay for blood headed back to your digestive system after a nice 10 hour break. Stomach ache. Nothing awful. Normal post Ironman feeling and definitely better than CdA. (Sorry folks, it’s just true- you feel a little icky after an Ironman). I talked to some other girls at the finish and we all congratulated each other and then I got to see mom, finally!

I didn’t mention her and my uncle Bob quite enough in this. They were magnificent. I saw them tons of times and have 100s of pictures from Bob to prove it. They were positive and put up with all my Type-A hole (thanks for that word, Matt!) tendencies all weekend. Amazing! Thank you thank you! I live close enough to my mom that I always whine that I see her way too often, but on the bike I kept thinking, “I cannot wait to see my mom at the end of the loop!”

I got a wonderful massage from Sheri (Sure- ree) and she asked me to sign her shirt  and then walked out to try to find my mom and uncle. But I got tired as soon as I left the area, so I made them walk around to find me. One more quick bathroom break and I actually started to feel much better. Just sore. And very happy. Home for an ice bath. Then a regular bath when I got too cold, compression, 30 minute nap because as absolutely exhausted as I was, I was also sort of amped up.

Then- best part ever- I went back for last finisher!! OH MY GOSH! Always the greatest, but this was especially special. First, as I walked back, I saw Bob! From the posters! I said, “BOB!!!!!!!!!” And he smiled as he came in to finish. Cool. Then my mom and I cheered out on the out and back for about 30 minutes and walked to get my special needs bags (because the course is 2 loops on the bike and the run, special needs are only about 400 yds or half a mile from the finish, so I figured I’d pick up my power bars and extra socks)!. I actually like cheering outside of the finish line better, sometimes, because that’s when I feel like you really need it. Once you are within 100 yds, you’ll make it, but with a mile or a mile and a half to go, well, you’ll still make it, but it just is a little harder to know that.

The greatest thing that I saw there was the volunteer assigned to direct people toward the finish. He high fived or shook ever single person’s hand as they went by and told them how awesome they were by name. There were no volunteers just pointing to the turn- all of them spend the whole day screaming their heads off and encouraging people. Incredible! (I realize I’m using a lot of happy adjectives, but it really was a magnificent race!).

We then walked back to the finish line and I ran into Jennie, who said, “Come into the finish chute with me!” So we did. They usually let the winners, and sometimes the top few people, come down onto the course in the finish area with Mike Reilly for the last hour and I got to do it. Mike Reilly announced Jennie “Our women’s winner!!” And then turned to me and said, “Who are you?” Hahaha! I said, “I’m Katy Blakemore” And he said, “What place.” I said, “2nd, but close enough for today!” So then he announced me. We got to stand on in the chute and high five people and I kept getting really excited and running up and down getting high fives and dancing with people. About 5 people told me that I should have tried harder to run her down- I had too much energy left! But inspiration hour energy is different- it’s like Disneyland energy. You are just caught up in the magic of it.

I got to high five all the finishers and dance to really awesome music and I was soooooo happy! It was really fun. I kept getting a little nervous that I was either blocking people’s views or taking away from the finishers, but we mostly danced when no one was coming and then moved to the side for a high five when we had a finisher.

Gosh that place was rocking!! It was so packed and everyone was going crazy!

Really really spectacular night! Notice I’m wearing my finisher shirt and medal- I was excited! Plus, it’s a nice shirt!

Finally got to bed about 1am, but was up at about 6. Just out of habit, maybe. I got to go stand on the podium. Before they started awards, Mike Reilly wanted to make sure the pros were actually there, so he said, “Are our pros here?” and no one answered. He said, “Any pros” and I said, “Whoop!” Or something ridiculous. And he said, “Oh Katy, still partying.” Pretty sure Mike Reilly thinks I am a drunk.

He also referenced my mom. Apparently he called me Kathy Blackmore during the bike or something, so when he announced me in 2nd place he said, “I said her name wrong during the race yesterday and was quickly reprimanded by her mom. 2nd place, Katy Blakemore.” Nice work, mom!!

Then I went to New York City to visit my brother! Fantastic!! Walking around the city basically cured me of all my soreness minus a little bit in my calves. I was mostly just sleepy and probably not that fun to hang out with, but it was a great trip.

I would definitely recommend Ironman Lake Placid to everyone!! It is incredible! Do it. Seriously. Do it.