Gerry's IMLP Race Report
Arrived in Lake Placid on Wednesday before the race with my family in tow. In addition, my parents, brothers (2), sister-in-law and two nephews (2 year old and 3 month old) joined in the fun. This resulted in all of us staying in a house not far from Main Street. The house was a great option as there was plenty of space for all my gear (not to mention the people), access to a refrigerator and kitchen and was well removed from the IM chaos and nerves. The downside was that the tempo was up all week. Lots of activities – visits to the Olympic sights (bobsled ride and tour, ski jump tower tour and demonstration, aerials demonstration), Whiteface for a gondola ride – and meals out. It was difficult to not over exert myself and to make sure I was staying hydrated. Luckily, the weather was cool in the days before the race and I had been very clear with my family as to what I would and would not be doing. I felt like a prima donna but they understood and it never became an issue. Post-race though, I do feel that all the activity did take its toll on my race-day performance. But, as I also told myself that I was not going to be a hermit all week so I accepted this.
Had a good recon swim Thursday morning. Did the family thing and then did IM check in late in the day. No crowds and was in and out in about 15-20 minutes. I thought the check-in process was exceptionally well run, and the volunteers already starting to shine, except for the 3rd station where you had to fill out the waivers. Knowing how many people there would be all day long you’d think that IM would provide buckets of pens. Nope, about half a dozen floating around by late in the day resulting in my only “unreasonable” wait during the check-in process. In the future, a pen goes with me to check-in.
Attended the Team dinner Thursday night without any family in tow. It was fantastic to take a break from the family and mix it up with the Team. Coach P’s words of wisdom and talking with the Team took away any pre-race jitters I may have had and got my head in the right place for the rest of the weekend.
Friday was uneventful. Packed my transition and special needs bags, race-day gear and nutrition that I would be wearing, swimming in and putting on my bike.
Saturday went according to plan. Had a big breakfast with the family and then, contrary to Team advice, went to bike drop on the early side (about 30 minutes after it opened). Good idea or not, I didn’t want to ditch the family for the whole day knowing that I would be horizontal by mid-afternoon and not leaving the house after that. To my surprise, it was pretty empty. Racked my bike, counted off the rows from the change tent and then moved on to bag drop where I counted off the rows from the end of the chute after entering transition from the swim and after the bike. I was very lucky to stumble into a tour of the transition area given by one of the IM team captains. About 15 minutes long, it took me through the whole transition process/route at each stage of the race. Hugely helpful as I had a slightly different idea as to how I thought transition was set up. This tour definitely saved me time on race day as my idea as to how things would flow were different from how IM set it up. Basic lunch, light dinner, then in bed by 9 where I tossed and turned for the next few hours. I had great sleep the two nights before so I wasn’t too worried about a bad night right before the race. I finally fell asleep to the sound of it starting to rain. Oh well, weather is outside my box.
Was up at my planned 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. Downed my planned 1st breakfast (12 oz Gatorade Endurance Formula; applesauce; banana). My brothers thought it would be funny to watch me choke down 3.5 cups of applesauce but to no one’s surprise, they did not get up to watch. Double checked my special needs bags and race-day gear and nutrition. The plan was to leave the house at 4:30 to head to transition. Unfortunately, it was still raining (still outside my box) but the forecast was showing a clearing and warming day. Incredibly, the rain stopped as my wife and I stepped out of the house for transition. My box got bigger with this development.
Body marking, pumping tires, stocking bike and checking on transition bags went smoothly. Dropped and racked my non-race clothing in the dry clothing bag and got out of transition. I had plenty of time so slowly walked my special needs bags to where they needed to be. It was nice to see exactly where the SN stops would be and to check out the route from swim exit to transition, so I am glad I did that. This was around 1 hour to go time, so I had my 2nd breakfast (1 Bonk Breaker; sip GEF) along the way.
Met the Team in front of Town Hall for good lucks, team photo, family photos with the crew that was able to get up for the 6:30 start and off to the swim start. Wasn’t sure where family would position themselves for the swim, but they reported having plenty of space and a great view from Mirror Lake Drive across from the Hampton Inn.
Had my last GU and swallow of H2O before taking a very short swim warm-up (I’ve always been a swimmer and have never required a long warm up). Then off to the self-seeding corrals. Talk about packed! I wanted to be at about 1:02 and on the left side. No matter how politely I made my way, cutting through the crowd was not easy and resulted in a lot of angry looks. Chill people! Lots of nervous talk and I was amazed at how many people hadn’t scoped out the course, didn’t know that you had to come around the pier and a few that actually didn’t realize it was a two lap swim.
Swim: I expected a steady flow of people into the water from the cannon and was not expecting the volunteers to let packs of people through with short gaps in between. As a result, I lost the front of my pack. Didn’t realize this of course until I hit the water and spent the first bit picking through the slower swimmers in the group. I swam the cable as best I could but it was crowded with a lot of contact. Amazing how counting strokes helps to block out all the out-of-my-box noise. When it got too crowded on the cable, I moved off to the left and open water. When it looked like space had opened up, I would move back on. I was able to draft here and there, but feet ahead of me always seemed to be slowing down so I did a lot of passing. This was fine with me as I was swimming comfortably hard and was happy on or off the cable. Sighting was pretty easy and I felt it was safe to sight off swimmers that were using the cable to guide them. Finished first lap with no major issues until it came time to stand up. In the past, I’ve always swum as far in to shore as possible, standing up in thigh deep water. Well I did that but as I gathered my legs under me – cramp in my right calf. Seems to never happen in practice, only in races. Took a second to stand up and shake most of the cramp out.
Limped around the beach and flopped back into the water for lap two (a hammy cramp popped up on flop). Swam while kicking out the rest of the cramps. I had it in my head that lap two would be less crowded and resolved to be on the cable more. That proved true for most of the lap out. But close to the first turn and for most of the way back, I caught up to and then worked my way through the back end of the field doing the first lap. I was so focused on the cable that I forgot to just let it go to get out of the chaos. Pace slowed and contact ensued. I found this portion a little frustrating and had to fight to stay in my box. To make matters worse, legs cramped some more when I found myself having to breast stroke kick when I got really jammed up in a slower pack. Coming into the pier for the last turn to the beach, I found it to be completely bottle necked. I swam out wide away from the pier to avoid the worst of it and, learning from my exit of lap one, stood up in belly-button deep water so I wouldn’t have to bend my legs and to let the blood come back down and risk cramping again. This worked – no cramps this time around, which was good since I now needed my legs.
Swim time: 1:01:12. Very happy with this but felt I could have shaved some time off if I had kept my head and moved off the cable in the crowded portions instead of staying cable-minded and trying to get back on.
Some things to watch out for in the future: Not getting caught up behind slower swimmers/crowds or worrying about staying on a cable or drafting feet. Don’t linger; just swim around. I’m a swimmer and have been fine without drafting before so why worry about it during a race.
T1: Getting out of the water on the early end has its benefits – I had two wet suit strippers right away! With wetsuit folded and tucked under my arm I was off and jogging into T1. Saw the whole family on the Mirror Lake Drive stretch of the jog from swim to T1as well. Found bag, changed into bike gear, had bike waiting for me and exited without incident.
Total T1 time: 5:41. Very happy with this as I was expecting closer to 10 minutes.
Bike: I didn’t see any craziness on the switchback and triple drop out of T1, but the minute I hit the turn near Lisa G’s the bike racing began – standing up, grinding the big gears and aero wheel noise galore! My plan was to spend the 1st two hours (taking me to the cross from Jay to Wilmington) no higher than my HR zone 2.2. Although everyone was passing me, I found that I was 1 to 2 tenths a HR zone higher than I wanted to be. Couldn’t figure out why. I wasn’t breathing hard, didn’t think I was working hard, was able to comfortably eat and drink (starting at 20 minutes into the bike, as planned) and my HR came right down during the down hills. Possibly the stress/excitement of race-day or overdoing it pre-race week? Wrong gearing choice and I was actually working a little too hard? Who knows, but since this slightly higher HR kept steady at my early easy pace, I adjusted my plan to this new HR. I was concerned that I would pay for this later in the bike or on the run, but as long as I was comfortable, eating and drinking, I told myself that I would be good. After the cross over, the remainder of my ride was planned to be in my HR zone 2.3-2.7 range. Again, my numbers were 1 to 2 tenths higher than planned. I made sure I did not dip into zone 3 (or more) except where climbs made that impossible. HR was still coming right down after climbs, so I kept telling myself that I was good. Adjust on the fly, stay in my box, keep pedaling. Plus, I was still being passed so I really didn’t think I was overdoing it.
I stuck to my nutrition plan of 1.5 to 2 bottles of GEF an hour and a GU every 45 minutes. Peed like mad, especially during the cooler earlier portion of the day. I could definitely feel the temperature rising so I kept pumping the GEF in. Wind seemed calm on both descents but certainly picked up during the second loop, and especially in the later miles. It felt like a tail wind from the bottom of the Keene descent to the Ausable Forks turn-around and then head wind from Wilmington back to LP. I didn’t notice much on the crossover from Jay to Wilmington. Following EN methods, I tried to ignore the wind and just focused on HR.
I was surprised at (and in awe of) the many people that were breaking the sound barrier on the Keene descent (I went fast on some of the stretches but am not a bomber on the steepest portions), at how many people were racing up the hills just to coast down the backs and the amount of drafting going on (in some areas, like the Ausable Forks out-and-back, it was so crowded it was impossible not to draft, but other times it was just blatant. I like to think that my mad peeing kept the peloton off of my back wheel, but who knows and what was behind me wasn’t really my problem).
Saw the family in front of the Lake Placid Brewery at the ends of both laps – a really nice boost. Stopped at SN for GU, lived off the course for GEF and H2O (used post-pee, to cool in the later miles and to try to rinse some of the GEF and GU residue out of my mouth).
Total bike time: 6:57:02 (second lap about 3 minutes slower than first). Pretty happy with this. I thought I might have been able to be closer to 6:30 but with my seemingly high HR, 6:30 might have resulted in a very tough run. Plus, this was in the zone of my two 112 mile rides at IMLP camp.
Some things to watch out for in the future: While I tried to do the opposite of what others were doing (The EN way: most are executing wrong so if I do the opposite, it must be right), I shouldn’t be so tentative to pass at times (sometimes I find myself backing way off instead of passing, because passing might spike HR a bit or doesn’t seem right, but sometimes it is dead on right). Also, when soft pedaling, make sure I am still spinning at the rpms that I should be (90-95) instead of slow pedaling in a bigger gear which is sort of like grinding at a lower level (sometimes I caught myself doing this which is strange because I never do this and usually find myself at a higher rpm than lower; in hindsight, this may have also contributed to my higher HR rate).
T2: Started to prepare for the transition and the run after the turn off of Main Street at the Olympic Center. Stretched legs and back. Started to focus on dismount and moving through transition. Handed off bike with no issues and jogged to my bag and into the tent. Bike shoes and helmet off. Socks and shoes on. Go-bag in hand. Put race belt and hat on while getting sunscreen. Kept quart size bag in hand for ice at aid stations.
Total T2 time: 4:27. Nothing special here. Maybe would have been slightly faster had I not bumped into a fraternity brother that I had not seen in close to 20 years!
Run: I’ve been doing long ride into run all season long in an effort to get more comfortable running off the bike and with the accumulated stress following ride. Paid off. Legs felt good from the get go. Not fresh (I did just swim 2.4 and ride 112) but not causing me concern – you know what I mean. Saw family in front of Town Hall every time I came by (another awesome boost) and Coach P and the Team soon after (Coach P’s advice of not dropping my Go Bag and keeping it filled with ice was no joke – it was hot on the run course). Goal was for my first hour at my HR zone of between 1.5-1.8 and then no greater than 2.2 after that. The first two miles were on the faster side (course downhill) even though my HR was settling into my goal range. But, as with the bike, I was always a tenth a zone higher than my max goal. At this point, I assumed it was the heat and the strain of the day. I was able to slow to a comfortable working pace – allowing me to feel like I was running without spiking my HR – so I adjusted my plan to the HR range that was showing. The first out and back were fine. I was working but not unbearably uncomfortably so. I walked the aid stations, got ice, GEF (coke started at mile 18 as my stomach started to rebel from GEF), GU and cooling water and had two pee breaks (early and late; so I knew I was mostly properly hydrated). It was hot though and the ice in the Go Bag trick was great. Ran the tangents and sought out shade (it got much shadier on the second out and back). The second loop was where it started to get hard. My low point came around miles 15-16. But I was prepared for this, had my reasons for my body not to listen to my brain, and kept on moving. On top of everything that would make the run hard, I realized that I had not had caffeine in some time. I had planned on living off the course but to my disappointment, I found that the GUs at aid stations were either decaf (the up side was that these were flavors I liked) or caffeinated but flavors that I didn’t like or hadn’t tried before and so reluctant to try on race day. So my caffeine intake slipped big time. I had two GUs with me for the first half and another in SN just in case – 2 of 3 were caffeinated. I had used 1 of those earlier in the run, but took the second and then, instead of risking a GI rebellion with a strange flavor, decided to start drinking Coke. I assume the Coke was caffeinated because my mood picked up almost instantly. Placebo affect or caffeine, or a mix of both – who cares it worked. This also happened to be right around the time when my stomach was really telling me that GEF was no longer welcome so all around the timing on the Coke worked. The GU issue was disappointing, but in the future I’ll expand the flavors I train with (I felt that the flavors offered were GUs less known or popular ones, which made me feel GU was trying to dump its less popular stock on us poor IM racers).
After the first hour, my pace stayed basically the same. I did push at times but as my HR would spike I would back off. After a little bit of this, I just decided to go with a steady HR instead of risk a breakdown of some sort. This was fine because I was working while being uncomfortable but still moving and not giving in to the slight temptation to stop and walk (outside of the aid stations).
From the get go, I passed a lot of people who were walking (I passed at least one group talking about their great bike times) and doing things that while probably gave them an energy/mental boost, must have been an energy drain (alot of high fiving, crossing back and forth on the route to talk to people, etc.). I just kept going. My goal was no walking/stopping except for aid stations and pee breaks (mission accomplished).
Total Run time: 4:55:11 (second lap about 6 minutes slower than the first). Accomplished my goals and while it could have been faster, who really knows. I did what I did with the conditions presented and in that context, I was very happy with the run.
Some things to work on in the future: Getting HR down coming off the bike. Staying cool (ice in the Go Bag is great). Continuing to work on an iron stomach (maybe fewer GUs on the bike and adding solid food) and figuring out when to switch to Coke as part of a plan instead of more as a wait and see if needed. At the very least, as long as I’m not cooked for the run, I’m happy.
That mile into the turn-around on Mirror Lake Drive just wouldn’t end. On the flip side, after the turnaround went by too fast and I really wanted to hold onto that bringing-it-in feeling. My family had spread itself out along the Mirror Lake Drive/Main Street to the Olympic oval bend to cheer me in and my wife and son at the start of the red carpet at the finish. They got great video of my finish (check out my Facebook page if you want to see it) and even managed to stop cheering for me just in time to hear those very special words – GERRY GORDON, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!
Comments
Awesome swim time!
Great meeting you at camp
It was really nice to meet you there this year, and had a great time.
It is always interesting to see that no matter where you are as a swimmer, and you are way faster than me, that everyone has contact in the swim regardless. Even with the self seeding of the times, for you to be constantly passing people is a nice reminder that some of those other people should have started a little further back.
Yes, the drafting was funny to watch....a few people around me seemed to be doing it for the entire ride.
Congratulations and best of luck with the rest of your year.
John.
Gerry,
Enjoyed meeting you and riding with you at CAMP.
Looks like you had a great race and were efficient with the transitions as well.
Did bike HR run high due to effort level of the swim possibly? (great swim by the way)
Thanks for making our team stronger! What is next for you?
SS