It was a fantastic day! I got up at 3:45 am to start choking down as much oatmeal and skim milk as I could handle, then went off to the bike corral to get my tires topped off, load up the fluid bottles and stuff the feedbag w/ pita bread.
I wasn't sure how to manage the swim. I got into the water about 6-7 people off the front row on the inside of the course. It occurred to me that I had no biz being in that position, but when I turned around to retreat, I saw 2,000 people in rubber suits and caps heading into the water behind me - I found that even more intimidating, so I just stayed put. As the start time approached, things got more and more croweded until we were all shoulder-to-shoulder, and gently kicking and elbowing each other as we treaded water. When the cannon went off, we all tried to go from being vertical and tightly packed to horizontal. There was no room! We were all laying on top of one another, thrashing. All I could see was black rubber and white water. The notch in the mountains that I planned to use as my sighting point was obscured by some low clouds. After about 3-400 yards, I finally had a little bit of room - no wonder, I had swum off course into the middle of the rectangle formed by the marker buoys. As I corrected my course, I spotted the underwater steel cable that anchored the buoys. I just swam along that line like it was the stripe on the bottom of the pool. I had LOTS of company trying to maintain that position, and I was constantly nudged and slapped and kicked - but it wasn't anything vicious - just incessant contact. I ended up completing the swim about 10 minutes faster than plan, I think because I was being dribbled like a soccer ball downfield.
I rode aggressively (for me) on the first of two loops on the bike course. My strong swim had me in the company of some competitive athletes on the first part of the bike leg. There is a six mile descent early in the course; I was wondering what it would be like hurtling down the mountain in a crowd of bikes being ridden by top gun pilots. I just stayed to the right and clenched my bars while coasting, hoping that I didn't get clipped by anyone hurtling past. No incidents, thankfully.
I was way ahead of plan by then end of the first loop...but I paid for the aggressive start on the second loop. I was a LOT slower, and really struggled on the last 12 miles heading mostly uphill into Lake Placid. On my final approach to the transition area, I rode along side the run course, which was already busy with real athletes.
I was happy to get off the bike, but I was so wiped out that I couldn't imagine how I would do the marathon. Couldn't quit, though - I had made too much emotional/physical/financial investment in this not to see it through. I really had a hard time running - my legs were shot, and I couldn't get my heart rate under control (hitting 160 BPM trying to run at 11-12 min pace.) I was thankful I had done a lot of power walking in my training - I ended up doing a lot more of that than I envisioned. I alternated shuffling and walking for the first half marathon, and mostly walked the second half. I was really struggling at mile 20 - it was dark, getting chilly, and I'd been working for hours and hours. Fortunately, I met up with another guy who was resigned to walking in the rest of the way. We kept each other company and made that last 6 miles quite enjoyable.
As I entered the ice oval, I broke into a run - wanted to create the illusion that I'd actually been doing some of that out on the course
I was glad that the finisher picture got snapped before I stumbled crossing the finish line! It wasn't much of a stumble, but my legs were so weak I couldn't recover, and found myself uncontrollably launching toward a crowd of volunteers. Thankfully, a big guy jumped into my path and snagged me before I plowed into some ladies that were tending to other finishers.
I got my medal, then went off to the medic tent to get an ECG rhythm strip; everything checked out OK!
A little post-race perspective:
Many of you are probably familiar with the stereotypical Ironman athlete with superhuman speed and endurance. Those folks were certainly there in large numbers. I am NOT one of them. You get a 17 hour time budget to complete the race. If you do the math, you see that you can complete the event at a pretty leisurely pace. Not to say it's easy - you certainly need to be fit and relentlessly stubborn in making forward progress - but it's do-able if you're patient and you train properly. I had a lot of company staggering around out there in the dark with the rest of the "B" team. Slow pace notwithstanding, I found the whole thing very gratifying and I am enormously pround of my effort. I didn't sign up for next year's race (which sold out in 10 hours), but am definitely planning to do another one.
Thanks to all of you who encouraged me along the way - your support and interest means more to me than you know.
Cheers,
