IronMan USA 2007
Lake Placid, NY
By: Ben

Keith Manuel is a BAMF and surprisingly good cook. Had he not broken his chain at mile 58 of the bike, and had hamstring issues late on the run he'd have been way down the road from me.  He was in best-ever shape for this race and I wish things would have fallen better for him.

I was just not into this race at all.  When I arrived in Lake Placid it was day 5 of my 11 day road trip (long story) and I was already wanting to be back in the Berry.  I was in a generally pissy mood.  I was annoyed with all the M-dot logo wearing type A's strutting around.  I wore my Bad Religion t-shirt when we went to registration Thursday, the only day I went to the "village".   I felt like a homesick kid at summer camp.  I also had my worst sinus condition of the last several years, characterized by unimaginable amounts of bright yellow phlegm.  Fortunately I felt okay from the neck down.  I spent a lot of time seriously contemplating not starting the race, which didn't make for a positive frame of mind.  Oh yeah, I also had a bit of anxiety about the 6 mile screaming descent on the bike course.

Lake Placid (host to the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980) is a quaint little town, albeit a bit touristy for my tastes.  Not easy to get to either.  But it's surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains and the vistas are at times breathtaking.  I don't see myself ever getting back there, but I am glad I made it once.  I had read elsewhere that the town really gets behind the race and embraces it, and I am in complete agreement.  From the crowds in the downtown area to the countless cyclists and homeowners in lawn chairs on the bike course, and the 4,000 race volunteers, there was a near-constant stream of encouragement, and that makes a difference.

Race Day:

The forecast for the day was low 50's to upper 70's with sunshine and little wind, and that is just what we got.  Near perfect conditions.  I could tell the "heat" affected some of the Northerners, but it could have been 5 degrees warmer and still not have bothered me.  I had pretty much the usual amount of pre-race anxiety, mostly associated with making sure all gear bags and last minute preparations were in order.  My sinus condition was still a concern, but I hoped that once I got rolling I would not have enough mental energy to worry about it.  Somehow, 6 of the 7 Lafayette area guys met up together in the crazy last few minutes of the pre-swim crush and it was good to see the familiar faces.  We held hands and Kyle led us in a brief prayer, which was just right.

This has got to be the easiest IronMan swim in existence.  My swim stunk, but that's not the point.  I knew about the rope which runs the entire length of the 1.2 mile loop that you swim twice, and I was so far back that I had it pretty much all to myself after maybe 15 minutes.  It's as good as a big black lane line.  I swam 1:42, so 2100+ people beat me out of the water, and I was ahead of about 40.  I think only a handful of those 40 even finished the race.  After finishing the first loop and going under the timing mat, there is a short walk on shore before jumping back in for the second loop.  It was here that a youngish looking guy came to my side and excitedly said "Dude!  I've been drafting you!  It's great!  You don't kick at all!"  I told him he was right, I don't (can't) kick, and he was welcome to draft me any old time.  50 minutes later, at the finish of the
swim, as I walked under the inflatable swim exit, he appeared at my side again "That was great!  I drafted off you for the whole second loop!"  I wanted to say, dude, I am glad for you, but that would make you a slightly worse swimmer than me, which is pretty bad.  But I just smiled and said "Great!"

It's a long way to the transition tent, but in 11 minutes or so I had on my biking gear, including arm warmers, which came off around mile 25.  Two nice touches in the transition tent were the trough-type urinal and the jar of Assos chamois cream, both of which I took full advantage of. The bike course has been well documented by others.  The 6 mile screaming downhill into Keene is just that.  I had fear and trepidation about it.  I feathered the rear brake through much of it and was happy to stay upright.  A few riders passed me, but I passed a larger number, especially on the second loop.  I heard later of a crash involving several riders.  The climb out of Jay at around mile 20 is very long though.  When Keith and I drove the course Wednesday I made mental notes, one of which was that this seemed to be the worst of them all, and indeed it was.  The 14 mile out-and-back on Haselton Road to Black Bear had a few challenges as well, but it also had the best aid station at the turnaround.  The 10 mile climb back to town that finishes the 56 mile loop was not too bad the first time around.  It is embarrassing to report how many women breezed by me on second loop of that climb, though.  I was in my 33/25 granny gear and doing all I could and they just kept easing past.  I rate the course as a bit tougher than Wisconsin's.  My 6:52 was a bit below average in my AG, but a damn sight better than my 1:42 swim which was 117th out of 118.  Last year at IM Wisconsin featured the first time I ever peed on the bike.  It rained all day long, so you couldn't tell the difference. Here, I suspect I set a new world record for going on the bike.  I quit counting at 18 times, and that's the truth.  I went with a new nutrition plan on the bike.  I took off with three bottles of about 500 calories each and I didn't put a bag at the bike special needs station (mile 56).  I figured I could make do with on-course nutrition and it worked fine.  I had about 5 each of water, banana halves, and bottles of Gatorade Endurance, plus one Powerbar.

Dismounting the bike felt really good, although I could barely get my leg over the top tube.  Transition was slow and uneventful.  If you had told me exiting the tent that I would set an IM run PR by about 12 minutes, I would have said no way, but that is what happened. I like the layout of the run course.  It's a two looper.  There is both a long out and back and a short out and back section - the end result is that you probably have 6 or 7 miles of exposure to a surprisingly big crowd that lines the course in the downtown (start and finish) area.  Their level of enthusiasm and support was significant.  It's a hundred times more support than at IronMan Florida, for example.  Countering that is the toughness of the course - plenty of hills, especially for those of us from south La. (my standard ten mile loop in New Iberia has maybe 3 feet total elevation change).  My legs felt so-so, but I managed to go through the first few miles in the 8:30 range, though they are downhill  (some of the downtown hills esp. the one by Lisa G's, are crazy - too steep to be of any value going down, and very tough to run up).  My plan was to get a little something, just a couple of ounces, at each aid station (every mile) without breaking stride.  Gatorade for the first loop, then switch to coke around mile 15 or so.  That worked until about mile 17, when I just had to take a short walk break.  I took another half a dozen breaks of 45 seconds each or so.  I had hoped to run the whole thing, but this was respectably close enough.  At this point, the 12 or so hour mark, a look around would probably show more walkers than runners anyway.  I found out later I hit the 1/2 way point in 1:57.  At the time, in my semi-delirium, I was thinking I was at about 2:03 or so.  The 1:57 would have been a nice boost mentally.  The highlight of my run was probably climbing the big hill on the second loop which is somewhere around the 24 mile mark, I guess.  It was thick with spectators at this point.  There might have been thirty other athletes on the hill, but I was the only one running it.  The crowd went crazy, and the guy with the megaphone was leading them, and me, on, screaming my name.  I ran all the way to the top, which took all I had.  I could not have done it without the crowd support.

The finish was nice - you always like it when you get to the junction point and make a right to finish instead of a left for another 13.1 miles.  I felt relief and gratitude that I finished a race I had grave doubts about even starting.  My 4:12 run split brought me in at 13:05, not my fastest, nor my slowest, but probably the "best" of my five IronMans.  Thanks to Jimmy, Kyle, Robert, Ken and Geoff for the support and fellowship and a special thanks to Keith for putting up with me for 5 days as a roommate in a nice but too-small condo. Thanks to MJ for the awesome top tube stickers - they were a big inspiration for me the many times I looked down at them.  They reminded me that I needed to finish the race, like it or not, and I am glad I did.