IMLP Pre-Race & Swim

One year ago I signed up for the 2011 Lake Placid Ironman and promptly reserved a house large enough for a cheering squad. We had 20 people in the house and I think that somewhat helped with my pre-race nerves. Between food shopping, cooling down the non-ac house, unpacking, cooking and eating, that didn't leave me much time to stress. That was basically Wednesday.

Thursday I had an hour ride to knock out then I went to the Olympic Oval to check in. The line wasn't too long so I got in and out fairly quickly. It was super hot out and while I took a peek in the merchandise tent I didn't buy anything. Even though I didn't doubt I wouldn't finish, I didn't want to jinx anything!

Olympic Oval & empty transition 

Friday more and more of my friends and support crew arrived. But before they got there I got in a nice 20 minute swim with my blogger buddy Jon and my new blogger buddy Emily! The water was warm... there was debate whether it was going to be a non-wetsuit swim but I felt good in the water.

Me and blogger buddy Jon post swim

Friday night was the athlete dinner. It was great to meet up with some fellow bloggers and we got huge doses of inspiration from the "voice of ironman" Mike Riley, NYC Firefighter Matt Long as well as the oldest competitors in the race... a 74 year old man and 65 year old woman!

Matt Long providing inspiration

future Ironman

Blogger Friends!

Saturday I had a short brick to do and as I was riding I heard a really annoying creaking noise coming from my pedals/crank area. I thought I had something loose in my cleat so I checked that out first. Once I realized it wasn't my cleat I felt like I had to bring my bike to the shop to get it looked at. The last thing I wanted was something going wrong mechanically on the bike during 112 miles. The mechanic took apart my crank and cleaned it out. Just like that the creaking was gone. Phew - nothing major. The mechanic said he'd fine tune my derailleurs for me and I was, like "Great! A last minute tune up." He tuned the Roo up and before I left, I test rode the bike and the Roo would not shift into my big ring! Ugh - I went back in and he tweaked it. I went back out and it still wouldn't shift! Repeat that TWO more times and at 1:45 in the afternoon with bike check in closing at 3... I. Was. Stressed. Finally a 2nd dude tweaked it and while it shifted up there was some hesitation. I told them that was fine and I left in a majorly sour mood. Not only did I have to check in my bike by 3, but my bike/run bags still had to be packed with all my gear. I rushed home ignored all my friends (sorry guys!), packed my bags and just hoped I didn't forget anything. I thought I read somewhere that we wouldn't have access to our bike/run bags the morning of the race, but of course when race day came we did. Oh well.

Once my crisis was over with it was time to relax with a little Meatballs & Motivation!! My mom made a giant vat of meatballs, sausage and homemade Jerseylicious gravy. Add some pasta, grilled chicken and veggies, our meal for 20 people was delicious!

My awesome friends! 

My bro manning the pasta pot

Mom & besties enjoying the food!

White Castle Employee of the Month Simon

Then my Dad added the Motivation with an hour long presentation that had the entire group laughing, crying and severely motivated for race day! I went to bed feeling nervous but ready. I plopped my ear plugs in and pretty much fell asleep right away.

PRE-RACE

I woke up at 4:25, got dressed and ate a bagel with butter and a banana. It's so hard for me to eat that early but I was able to get it all down. My Ironman buddy Mike and I, as well as our significant others, headed out the door at 5:15am. When we got outside the house the sun was just starting to rise. There were pinks & purples speckled across the nighttime sky, dripping over the mountains... it was so beautiful. This was the first of many times that I would think about how lucky I was to be doing this.

Heading to transition with a beautiful backdrop

So we has plenty of time to walk down, get body marked, set up my bike with nutrition, drop off special needs and hit the porta potty. Or so I thought.

getting body marked

Can you spot my yellow back?

I kissed Simon goodbye, walked the 1/2 mile to drop off special needs then found the extremely long porta potty line. Now, I have no problem peeing in my wetsuit (or on my bike for that matter) but, since I was nervous and already went #2 twice at home, I had to get #2 out again for the 3rd time. So yeah, I got in the super long line and prayed to the Porta Potty Gods I would make it in time. I was about 3rd in line when the pro's went off at 6:50.... EEK. I finally got to the front of the line, ran in, did my business and ran out. I literally ran to the start line and squeezed myself into my sausage suit.

SWIM 1:16:20

The water was 77 degrees, which is quite warm for a wetsuit swim, so if you wanted an Age Group award or Kona slot you would have to swim sans wetsuit per the rules. I knew I could swim 2.4 miles without a wetsuit but I wasn't gunning for any awards so I went with the extra bouyancy to battle the 2500 other swimmers!

Since I was super late getting into the water, I didn't have time to panic. I spit in my goggles and swam out to the middle of the start line by another pink cap aka chick. There were a ton of people on the start line and a ton of people on the beach. I was in the open water between about 20 yards to the right of the buoy line. This was a perfect spot for me! I didn't dare look behind me at all the people that were going to try and swim over me. I chatted with the pink cap lady a bit and then BOOM! The cannon went off!

I started swimming and as advertised, the lake was filled with bodies! Hands, arms, legs, bodies everywhere! It was such a rush and I did not panic at all. I was glad I was wearing a wetsuit cause there were a couple of times I got pushed under the water and the buoyancy of my wetsuit just helped me float back up. I have to say, after panicing during my last couple of open water swims, I was totally calm. It must have been the magic water of Mirror Lake!

I pretty much stayed 20 yards to the right of the buoy line and before I knew it I was at the red turn buoy. Traffic jammed up a bit but as I was heading back to shore I actually got on the buoy line. Whoosh..... I felt like I was swimming in a river! The current of 2500 people swimming the very same way just carried me along. It felt awesome! I started to see the sandy bottom so I knew I was close to finishing my first loop. I swam til my hand touched the ground then stood up. First, I looked to my right and I saw my cheering squad rocking their pink & green camo t-shirts!

Then, I looked at the swim clock. It still had the pro start time on it so I knew to subtract 10 minutes.... I saw 36 minutes - Woop Woop! Perfect! That got me even more excited about my awesome swim.

I ran through the arch, and back into the water. The water was thinned out a bit so I tried to stay closer to the underwater buoy line but it was getting a little too violent so I stayed to the right. I felt great but I did feel like I was taking a bit longer to swim the 2nd lap. Looking back at my Garmin file, I saw that the second loop I kinda weaved back and forth a bit so I think that's what added to my time.

When I got about 200 yards to the beach the swim got really rough and violent. You could just feel the energy in the water change from somewhat calm to "oh my God I need to kick super hard and thrash my way to the finish!" That point was probably the most violent for me. I got up out of the water, fist pumped to my cheering fans and ran through the arch. I was thrilled with my 1:16 time and absolutely psyched that I felt amazing, like I didn't expend any energy. That was my goal, swim strong, but keep it calm. I executed that perfectly!

T1 - 6:42

I ran straight to the wetsuit strippers and pointed at a man that I knew would take off my wetsuit effortlessly. He did and I thanked him and went on my way! Now, it was time to run the 800 meters to transition. Luckily Ironman carpeted our run and I weaved in and out of some slower running dudes. I wanted to get on my Roo, and get on her quick! I got to the Olympic Oval, grabbed my bike bag from the rack and ran into the women's changing tent. I ran near the tent exit and found an open seat. No volunteer was there to help me but I knew what I needed to do. When I was just about done a volunteer came over to see if I needed any help. I asked her to put my wetsuit in my bag and to spray me with my SPF 100. yes, SPF 100!! She sprayed me down but of course I didn't put any on my face or my legs. After a few minutes I was done and ran out to get my Roo! I called out my number and said the pink camo bike. The volunteer grabbed another pink bike on my rack and I yelled no, the pink camo one!! I wound up grabbing it myself but I did appreciate her effort! Roo and I ran to the bike mount line and we were off!!

Stay tuned for my Bike Race Report.... I had three challenges to overcome and a few tears may have been shed!