My 2nd Ironman was in Lake Placid in 2003 on the 4th anniversary of my dad’s passing and when I finished it became the day Brandon proposed. July 27, 2003 was a cool, cloudy, windy and periodically rainy day in Lake Placid. I couldn’t imagine it would be the same 5 years later on July 20, 2008, or could it?
Pre Race
I woke up at 3am for breakfast and to start my day. At 4:15am I looked outside to see the weather and “all was good”; it wasn’t raining nor did it appear to have rained over night. Great! The day was starting off well. I arrived at transition at 5am to get body marked, to pump my tires, check my T1/2 bags and put my nutrition on my bike. Then time to check on our NRG PT athletes all 17 of them! I went by each bike and checked tires and to see if the athlete had been there yet! I managed to see/speak with most of our athletes before starting. At 6:25am I made my way to the start line with Brandon. We chatted for a bit then the rain started so I put my wetsuit up and got in the water…might as well be wet in the water then on land! Hahaha…if only I knew what the day had in store for us!
Swim – 1:02
I did a short warm up in the water then picked my spot to start and waited…and waited, I was concerned that I would get cold in my sleeveless Nineteen Frequency wetsuit but in the end it wasn’t an issue. The gun sounded at 7am and off we went, I started at the dock, moved myself along and then found a small patch of clear water to start swimming. Yes it was the usual washing machine start but nothing like I had experienced back in 2003, when I lost my goggles and thought I was going to drown!
I had a good swim, worked hard but comfortably, swam on some feet then lost them and was on my own and found some again. The turning buoys were the busiest sections of the course and I was disappointed to see many people cutting the turns and not swimming around the buoys; its amazing how many people are fine with ‘being a cheater’; not cool. Back to the beach in 30:30, I was happy with that. The second loop was quieter and easier to swim to each buoy. I did have someone on my toes for most of this loop, just tapping every so often on my feet, would have been nice to have them to draft off but I am sure they were enjoying my draft! Out of the water, wetsuit off and down to transition…oh did I mention it was raining!
T1 – 4:50
Did what I needed to do in transition then out of the tent and to my bike.
Bike – 5:33
I had land marks to identify the row and spot of my bike and as I went to get it I saw Brandon, said hi and started to go past him, he stops me and says I have your bike!! Wow great, I hadn’t even noticed that he was holding it ready for me to grab. So I said thanks and off to the bike mount line! Needless to say with all the rain I figured my “sunglasses” would be useless but wanted to take them just in case, so put them on my face, then off, then on again then off just before taking the corner to descent out of town! I put them into my race suit and never touched them again until T2 when I removed them!!
As I tell my athletes “there is nothing we can do about the weather, it is what it is, so make the most of it”! AND since my last race in Lake Placid in 2003 was pretty much the same I had plenty of race experience in these conditions! Onward bound, hoping that the rain would let up later!! Now I had to focus on racing, keeping my pace on track, getting in my nutrition and enjoying my day.
As precalculated I passed Adam “the fish” Seanor (NRG PT Athlete) prior to the Keene descent; as far as he was concerned I was ‘too early’ he was hoping to be further ahead before I came upon him. Sorry Adam! Just after that I felt a hand on my back and an increased forward movement…it was Jody Sanderson giving me a push and passing me as usual! At that moment I quietly celebrated my victory, so soon? Yes Jody and I had a bet, who would get out of the water first, Jody swam 1:04 and me 1:02; yeah for me!!
Despite the rain the ride was great, Lake Placid is a beautiful course and having raced and trained on it so many times I know it very well, no surprises! The first loop goes by quicker as there are more people around, you’re fresher and things are generally going well, the second loop is always slower and a little lonelier! Riding into Lake Placid is always amazing, the spectators cheer so much that it helps to boost your energy and motivation. By the way if you weren’t there it is still raining! Thankfully I was done the bike and now ready to run. I feel pretty good, wet, very wet is probably the most acknowledged feeling. Probably too much info for most but I’ll share regardless; peeing, if I actually stopped to pee every time my bike split probably would have been double; meaning the bike was pretty much a constant pee! Crazy I know and not fun because there never was that feeling of relief!
T2 – 1:50
The transition tent and ground was very muddy now, tough to find a spot where it wasn’t a puddle of water or mud. Wonderful volunteers helped with my stuff and off and running I went. Yes it is still raining!
Run – 3:35
I have done this before in the rain so here I go again! The first part of the course is downhill, great but tough because it makes it harder to figure out your pace and settle into a rhythm, around the 1st mile it flattens out and easier to get on track. I was on pace for a sub 3:25 marathon exactly what I wanted to do. The first loop went well I felt good, nutrition was going in and I was on pace. The only disconcerting thing was the fact that I was still peeing, yes I know too much info, but I would take a sip of water and it would come right out. I did stop once in the bushes to finish the job but didn’t get the ‘relief’ I was looking for so didn’t bother stopping again. I continued to run and continued to pee, perhaps you would think that it was a good thing it was raining, this is true but I think the rain was part of the problem…more about that later. My feet were water logged and heavy in my Nike Vomero2+’s, in hind sight I should have worn my light Nike Zoom Marathon racing flats they wouldn’t have absorbed as much water!
Into town and onto the second loop, now I was struggling, my body was shutting down and if I let it, it would have stopped but mind over matter and I kept pushing. Only one loop to go, how hard could that be, I’ve done it before! Well my body stopped absorbing the fluids and now it was like Niagara Falls, a constant flow, so I only took in water when I took in my carbs. But I could feel the physical struggle my body was under and mentally I worked harder than I have before. Every step was getting me closer I just had to hold onto the pace and not slow down. This is what I kept telling myself. I had to hold it steady and fight through and I would be done soon. And I did, it was a battle in the end both physically and mentally but I persevered and finished. My goal run and overall time were slower than I had wanted but in the end I am very happy with my determination, persistence and my drive to see it through regardless of those time goals.
Who would have expected that the day would be mimicked 5 years later with a smiling wet Brandon to greet me at the finish but this time without roses or a proposal?!! Perhaps if the race had been on July 27th, 9 years after my dad passing it would have been sunny?
Finish – 10:18:34
An Ironman is a huge challenge and the goal no matter what, is to do what you can to get yourself to the finish line. Be strong and fight for it! In the end I was 1st in my age group, 15min ahead of the next woman and 5th overall, only 30sec behind 4th. Time is one thing, placing is another but the truth is neither matter it is all about how you manage yourself through the ups and downs, standing up to the challenges and the experiences you go through to get there and the rest is a bonus!
Post Race
Yes it was still raining and continued to do so for another 3 hours after I had finished. Fortunately for those finishing between 8pm and midnight there was light to no rain, finally a bit of drying out, sort of! I was able to semi-refresh myself before heading out to Main St to cheer on our NRG PT athletes. My feet were sore from being wet and blistered so I could only wear my Nike flip flops; which made running to cheer on my athletes a challenge, but if they were moving I tried it too, in fact I even made it part way down Mirror Lake Drive with Bob Price and then switched when Cathie (his wife) was heading for the line and she dropped me on the way! As a coach it is wonderful to share in the emotion and excitement of our athletes completing there day; I always feel so proud! Congratulations to each of you on the success of your challenge(s).
For me the fun didn’t finish at the line, the next day my legs were swollen and I weighed 6lbs more than on race day and absolutely everything hurt from my temples to my feet and everything in between. What I now know is that I had kidney dysfunction where my kidneys became dehydrated during the race then my body retained water afterwards to reverse the dehydration hence the swelling in my legs. This explains the constant ‘peeing’ that was happening on the bike and run. Slowly but surely my kidneys and my body are coming around it has taken many weeks to recover from this day. Messing with your kidneys is never healthy so taking care of them is important in order to race again!