Ed Croucher's 2015 IMLP RR
The Race morning started the evening before. If you didn’t hear, a building on Main Street in Lake Placid caught fire. Unfortunately this building was right next to the Golden Arrow and across from the Northwoods Inn. Racers were told to evacuate their rooms. We fortunately had room and Natalie Pilon was able to stay.
My race day morning started at 3:35 a.m. with my everyday protein smoothie and coffee. Natalie was up shortly after and headed to her hotel to get her race gear. Another great EN Racer, Neil Morgan woke shortly after. We “calmly” had coffee and then our housemates and fellow EN mates Steve & Brenda Ross drove us to the Olympic center. I was able to breeze through body marking and headed right into the oval. I got my bike tires pumped and all my bottles on. The bike was set with proper gearing to start and my computer was on. I walked to my swim/run bags rack and hung up my morning bag. Then I walked to the Town Hall. The EN Team is really amazing. I didn’t have to think about my special needs bags. They took my special needs bags and my pump. We took the team photo and I headed to the lake. I had plenty of time to get a good warm-up swim in and I seeded myself in the 60 minutes to 1 hour 10 minute group. I was met there by IMLP Team Captain Shaughn Simmons. That settled me down and made the morning right. I saw my wife and she got a picture of us waiting for Mike Riley to start the race. Tim Cronk also saw me and passed along some great energy. The canon sounded and we were off. I was in the water in about a minute. I swam straight for the line. There was much more contact for me this year than last. I think that with no pro athletes racing, the Kayak volunteers pressed us to the line a little more. Overall, I had a fair amount of open water to swim in. There were several congested areas and I took my share of bumps and kicks. I was still able to stay in my box and swim. I counted strokes and thought about my breathing. That was all going well. Lap two went very much like lap one. That is until I got within a few hundred yards of the dock. One very aggressive swimmer decided he should grab a hold of my leg and then pull me back. This sent me into a calf cramp. I had to swim that final section with my toes pointed toward my knee. I never knew what my swim was until after the race. I decided before the swim that I would just wear my garmin under my suit and not try to record it. I finished the swim and moved to transition. The suit strippers did a great job and I only got kicked in the head once. I grabbed my suit and jogged to T-1. I did not try to press the run here. I wanted to slow my heart rate and not step on any rocks. I grabbed my bike gear bag and went right in to the tent. Transition time was 6:46 and by no means fast, but I am not unhappy.
The bike was what I was looking forward to. This has been my nemesis here at Lake Placid and I was hoping that I had figured out the puzzle. I got on my bike and with some more EN juice being shouted to me, I was off. I rode smoothly and calmly down the start hill. Once I was on the flat section above Lisa G’s, I hit my lap and started the ride. I rode the climb out of town all the way to the top just as I had planned. My IF was .69 and my VI was 1.03. I kept my heart rate nice and low at 144 bpm. One issue developed and I felt like I had to have a bowel movement, but I just kept going. All day long throughout the bike, it was just like the “4 Keys Talk”. On every hill of significance I was either in my aerobars or seated and spinning. Standing racers passed me on every hill on the first lap until the climb to White Face. Most of those racers were never to be seen again after the climb out of town. One rider who passed me at Jay would come back to haunt me. I went over the top and rode with some great confidence. The descent to Keene has always been a bit frightening, but I found a line to ride and was moving well. I was on my pedals when the grade lessened and coasted when I had to. The section from Keene through Ausable Forks and back to Jay went great. I Saw Shaughn Simmons as I was headed to Jay from Ausable Forks and took some Mojo. Up the hill from Jay was right off my plan. For me, the toughest hills are in the first 5 miles from Jay. I broke this section down to 3 sections, climb, speed and climb. I hit the first 1.5 mile climb with an IF of .78. My VI was 1.00 & my heart rate was 142 bpm. The next 1.3 miles was fast. I held an IF of .64 pedaled the entire section. On the next uphill I was right back to my climbing plan. This climb was 1 mile and I held an IF of .79. My VI was 1.01 & my heart rate was 143 bpm. The ride through Wilmington including the out and back was smooth and fast. I climbed the last 15 miles to the Olympic Center as well as I could. I recorded an IF of .72. My VI was 1.03 & my heart rate was 142 bpm. On to Loop two and it seemed like more of the same. The climb from town all the way through the first 5 miles on Route 9N was nearly identical to the first loop. I was passed on the climb again by my standing Spector. He commented about how well his first loop had gone. At the top of the Climb, Shaughn Simmons caught up to me. I tried to steal some of his energy, but that only lasted through those first five. Right there, my watts started to drop. I don’t know if my power meter went screwy, but I lost 7 minutes. I was only riding at .55 IF. My VI was 1.08 & my heart Rate was 137. It took me 63 minutes to cover this loop. On the first loop, my IF was .66, my VI was 1.03 & my heart rate was 139 bpm. I lost 7 minutes. On the way to Ausable Forks, I had to pee. I stopped on the way back to Jay where I went and also tried to stretch a little quickly. The climb back was under much lower power than lap one and my right knee was hurting. The climb from Jay through Whiteface were nothing alike first loop to second loop. On the first loop, I held an IF of .72. My VI was 1.02 & my heart rate was 142 bpm. On loop two, I held an IF of .57. My VI was 1.06 & my heart rate was 133 bpm. When I got to the Bears on loop two I felt energized. This is where the Spector appeared again. I was pushing up “Mama Bear” and saw two riders ahead of me. I looked down and one of the riders had stopped dead in the road. His chain had dropped and he was trying to fix it. The next thing I knew I was flying over my handle bars and tumbling on the pavement. I left a fair amount of flesh from my knee on the road and had a few other bumps. My bike was a little beat up but I could still ride it. I was able to get started back up the hill with a little push and headed to the finish. Now I had two knees that hurt. I thought, two is way better than one and I won’t limp now. BTW Rich, the guy a crash into, #1800 is a Marine.
T-2 went OK. I walked from the dismount line and tried to assess my legs. I grabbed my bag and went in the tent. I spent a bit longer at the urinal than I thought I would, and then I sat down put on socks, shoes, race belts and hat. I headed out to the run, and dumped two cups of water on my body. As I headed down onto Saranac Avenue, I felt like I could run. I passed the EN crew and heard Coach P yell to stay wet and cool. At every aid station that was exactly what I did. It was water & Ice every chance I got. For the first mile, I focused on trying to slow down. I wanted to be 30 to 45 seconds slower than my GRP during this section. By the time I was running by the Airport, I was realizing that my GRP was not going to be attainable today. It was just too hot for me. I made it through the first 5 miles trying to hold close to my GRP. My heart rate was not screaming and I was feeling ok. The entire run I ran aid station to aid station. I tried to walk only as long as it took me to get water and ice. I drank Coke, Gator Ade and Infinit. I saw Shaughn Simmons on Riverside drive near the turn around. I set me target on trying to catch up to him. I tried to pick up my pace but I wasn’t catching him. When I got to the special needs area, I dropped my fuelbelt. That was a nice relief. After the special needs, I saw my wife. I told her Shaughn was smoking me. She told me he had not passed yet. I ran Mirror Lake drive and tried to gather all of the energy that was there. My feet still felt good and my heart rate was solid. I saw Shaughn just before the Brewery. He told me he had been cramping and just had to get it under control. That really focused me. I ran the Riverside drive section in a bit of a fog. I saw some EN members and I saw Shaughn for the last time. I was passing lots of people and I started looking for ages. I got rid of a bunch of my age group on Riverside drive. Once I got on Route 73 and was above the bridge, I saw a few more racers from my group. I passed the last two before Lisa G’s. I was running down that hill and saw my wife. I was hurting pretty good at that point. I could not stop for the aid station. I knew the last two I passed were not far behind me. I ran up the hill into town as far as I could and then walked with purpose. At the traffic light, I started to run again. The EN peeps were thereon Main Street and helped me finish that hill. Mirror Lake drive was awesome. I hit the aid station for some water & ice. Then I got after it. I hit the turn around and saw the racer I had passed before Lisa G’s. I ran the last mile into the finish with everything I had left. I did not stop at the aid station this time. I crossed the line a second or two ahead of that last age grouper. For the 21.2 miles after mile 5, I averaged a 9:26 pace and a 139 bpm heart rate. The only place I walked other than the aid station was the hill into town. As it turned out, the racer I passed started in the swim after me. He ended up 51 seconds ahead of me.
This year over last year –
2014 IMLP Swim 1:13:07, T-1 6:14, Bike 6:03:42, T-2 4:44, Run 4:19:50 Total time 11:47:35 25th in AG 365 OA
2015 IMLP Swim 1:14:22, T-1 6:46, Bike 6:04:52, T-2 4:49, Run 4:03:04 Total tim 11:33:53 19th in AG 214 OA
Comments
Things to work on--
Transitions. You are very competitive at IM. Welcome to the back of the front end of the pack. But to get to the middle of the front end of the pack (as a next step), you are going to need to start taking some of that "free" time. For instance, you were 19th in your AG. The guy who was 15th in your AG had transitions of 4:34 and 2:24 for a total of 6:58 in Transition. You had 6:46 and 4:49 for a total of 11:35. Soooooo. If you just replicated his transitions and did your same exact S, B, and R, you would have finished in 11:29:16 and in 15th place in your AG... The difference between you and the Top 10 is another ~20 mins off of your bike split (with no crash of course) which can be partly attained by simply not fading on the 2nd loop and having a lucky day.
I did NOT make those comments to sound in any way negative. I know how hard you worked and will continue to work and I can't wait to watch you progress even further up the totem pole over time!
Great Race man, congrats!
Oh my goodness! what a day! I'm so impressed. Nice work!
Your race report really nails home what a long day an IM brings. Moods, momentum, paces, anticipated events, unanticipated events....everything swings throughout the course of the day, doesn't it.
Congrats on really sticking it out and grabbing some great results!
Great job out there on Sunday.
When I saw you running a few times out on the course, and again after the finish I would never have guess that you had a crash...you looked pretty solid. Sorry to hear about your incident on the bike, people were riding with their brains in "dip$hit" mode on Sunday. Happy that you did not get injured and were able to continue.
It has been great to see how hard you have been working at it this year and it is really paying off. Take time to recover and absorb this past weekend.
OH, you noticed that too? "the Kayak volunteers pressed us to the line a little more"....twice I swam directly head first into the side of a kayak .... good thing I got those rocks in my head...LOL.
keep up the good work, what's next?
Thank you everyone. I had a good day and all of your comments make it even better. I think everyone knows there are no perfect races. If there were, we would stop doing this. I will be back at the drawing board soon to try and up my game again.
Thank you all.
Ed, you have been a great friend during both training and racing for this event in many ways.
I am just damn impressed with your work ethic, ability to focus and hold the line, and your humility in helping others. Those three things make up a True IM in my opinion.
To execute like you did on that bike course, overcome a wreck then run like that on the marathon is something only a very few individuals could pull off. HUGE day for you and well deserved results.
When I saw you on the bike it put a smile on my face and I was happy ride with you for a while and drew much strength from it. Later on the run, I saw the leg but the bloody leg and the pace you where running did not match up. Looked to me like you were having so much fun you were going to go for a 3rd loop. Strong and focused!
Put this one down as a great performance in the Croucher books!
SS
congrats on getting it done.
@Nate, When he returns, after the accident happened and we got going, he said how sorry he was. I told him this was just an accident. I should have been looking forward instead of down. I hold no ill will for him. Now, the guy who grabbed a hold of me during the swim is a totally different story. Thanks for your comments.
Ed - Very strong race, a run to be proud of on that day. The results (214 OA/19 AG) prove it. Getting thru that bad patch midway thru the bike was worth it, no?
It has been fun following you on Strava always hammering the wkos served you well dropping almost 17 minutes off your run! Nice work and great results!
Ed,
Great race and way to persevere after the bike accident.
Gordon