Astrid's IMLP RR
Finally, I finished writing my race report. I tried uploading it as an attachement (Word doc) with pictures and a movie embedded, but didn't work, so here is just the text...
Race Report IMLP 2011
I’ve never written a race report before and am an IM newbie with IMLP 2011 having been my first IM, so I apologize in advance for the lengthy report, since I tried cramming in all the things I can remember!
Race week prep:
Was getting pretty nervous when packing everything (like, literally everything, might as well just have moved the whole house!) on Monday and Tuesday and stressed about finishing work/not sleeping enough before leaving for Lake Placid (LP) on Wednesday, road-tripping with IM-buddy Diana. But, once we got to the cottage in Jay where we’d be staying for a week, felt a lot more relaxed and not nervous at all really. Well… until Saturday evening, don’t think I got more than 2-2.5hrs of sleep… It was nice to not be staying in LP itself and stay away from most of the craziness in town. Ran into EN Chris and Kevin when picking up race packets and got good advice and answers to some burning questions (as coach P knows, Diana and I always have a list of q’s lined up…). Of course, I was checking the weather forecast like crazy the days leading up to race-day, and SO SO happy with the weather on race-day, the heat before was giving me headaches!
Race morning:
Uh oh, realized when we were about halfway there (Jay to LP), that I forgot my aero bar bottle back at the cottage, STRESS! I was planning to carry almost all liquids I would need during the bike portion on my bike, not relying much on the aid stations, since I had trained with Infinit sports drink and cranberry juice + water, both of which wouldn’t be available at the aid stations, so only having 2 bottles with me instead of 3 wasn’t a great prospect. But, no time to turn around (road closures about to start), so googled High Peaks Cyclery and called them hoping they’d be open realizing they could make so much money off of stupid tri-wannabes like me, but alas, they were closed. Then texted the EN group (did I already mention that the Groupme text service is great?!?) hoping someone would have a spare aero bottle lying around in LP. Tina saved my day when she called and said she had a spare one. Thanks again, Tina!!
Despite it cooling down a lot overnight, the water turned out to be 77F. Even though Kona and AG awards were quite unrealistic, one has to aim high and as the Dutch say "you never know how a cow catches a rabbit", so decided to go without wetsuit.
After double-, triple-checking everything on the bike and the bags in transition, walked over to the lake around 6:15, getting body-marked on the way by a mom + 2 kids who were already very cheerful. We were hoping to use a Porta-John at the lake, but the line was superlong (couldn’t even find the end of it), so this is where knowing the course and area a bit comes in handy: walked over to the building on the left (really close to the start), and used the clean and non-smelly restrooms with only 1 lady in line in there = awesomeness.
Swim:
After crossing the mat, and walking into the water a bit (not even cold without a wetsuit), we run into fellow IMLP rally participants Nate, Nick, and Jay, fun! Decide to swim up and try to move up to be quite up front for the start after the pros are on their way. BIG mistake: 10 minutes of treading water is actually pretty tiring, and the claustrophobia for the last ~5mins when people are starting to push up from the back is really not fun. On the bright side, saw Steve all the way up front as well, always nice to see a familiar face. Hoped this would all get better once the race would start, but I was clearly wrong on that as well. The swim start was horrible, I’ve never been kicked, punched, grabbed, and swum over this much before. Didn’t get into more quiet waters at all during the first loop and was getting rather frustrated with it all, so decided to swim wider on the second loop. That worked OK in terms of less physical contact with others, but I think I was zigzagging quite a bit. Started going through T1 in my head on the way back on the second loop, and I was very happy to get out of the water after what turned out to be 1h7mins of swimming. Not a bad time, but I had expected to be a bit faster, even without the wetsuit. Run to transition wasn’t too bad, and there were tons of people cheering along the way, which was fun. Managed to spot my good friend Diane (best Sherpa ever, thanks for taking our special needs bags for us) and wave at her, and also saw EN’s Brenda who seemed surprised to already see me ;-).
T1:
Volunteers were great at pointing where to go, and all things over which one could possibly trip were very well-marked, good for clumsy people like me. Grabbed my T1 bag and ran into the tent. I wasn’t changing into other clothes, so just sat down, dried arms, face, and legs with towel. Then put on socks + shoes, and race-belt. I had some issues with the belt, ending up with it being upside down first time I put it on; I fixed it (biking 6+ hrs, people coming up from behind who want to say something to me may as well be able to actually read my name), but took some time. Then put nutrition (small Clif bars and Gus) + zip-lock with essentials like pain-killers, chapstick, and band aids in my jersey pockets. Lastly, put on headband + sunglasses + helmet, and asked a volunteer to spray some sunscreen on my shoulders and legs. Handed bag to a volunteer and ran out of tent. A volunteer already got my bike, so I could just take it from him, but had issue with race-belt again: one of the 2 sides had released, so had to tie it. The volunteer patiently waited for me with my bike, thanks! Then getting to the mount line, thinking of Coach P’s words this being the most dangerous part of the course, I really made sure to focus, and decided to wait until the athletes already there had gotten on their bikes, before getting on mine. The immediate 180° turn went fine (not as bad as expected), so I was pretty relived to have survived that part. Everything felt like it was going pretty smooth during this transition (except for the belt issues), but everything from getting out of the water to getting on the bike still took close to 8mins.
Bike:
After the first several technical turns in town (sorry crowds, really couldn’t pay too much attention to you, but still great you were all there cheering!), I tried to get my heart rate (HR) down to Z1 per the EN execution plan. Even though I wasn’t going too crazy on the bike, especially not in the beginning, I had a hard time to get HR down after the “excitement” of the swim. Also realized a couple of minutes into the bike part that my bike computer wasn’t working, panick! Turned out it was just in sleep mode and it started working as soon as I hit some buttons. Really happy I had my cassette changed to a 11-32, really needed the lightest gear on the “climb out of town”, the longest sustained climb of the whole course. Someone took me over on this climb saying "you got the right idea, Astrid, see that guy standing up in his big ring, you think you'll pass him on the run?" I said i probably would while spinning about 85-90 rpm’s (although I'm pretty sure I didn't take that guy over in the end 
). Had to pay a lot of attention on the 8 mile steep downhill part into Keene, surrounded by many athletes, and there were quite a few fast guys whizzing by. Good thing I had biked the course before during the EN LP Rally in June, and Diana and I had driven it quite a few times as well the days leading up to race day, since we needed to get to LP from Jay several times, so we kept following the bike course direction on our way there and back. It really helped to know the major turns and points where to pay attention. Unfortunately, I lost the sponge from front bottle during the descent, so I changed my strategy from emptying my other bottles fully into the front one to only filling it up half-way in order to reduce fluid loss due to bumpy course parts. My chain fell off right at the bottom of the descent, the pedals couldn't move anymore, so I got off to fix it, luckily a quick, easy, and painless fix. Whew, survived the descent one time, only need to survive it one more time… Then onto the next part of the course which was flat for about 15miles, finally time to look at all the funny signs and enjoy the cheering crowds. 2 of my favorite signs: “Is that a booger? No, it’s snot!” and “Chuck Norris never did an Ironman” (there were a ton of Chuck Norris jokes all along the course!?). I was generally able to keep HR in Z1, sometimes going up to Z2 (when already in easiest gear going uphill). Then after the out and back to Ausable Forks, we turned onto 86, wasn’t looking forward to the pretty long climbs coming up. But, I knew Tina and Anne would be cheering around there, it was superfun seeing them, waving the Dutch flag and yelling “Astriiiid”! It definitely started warming up, pulled down the arm warmers to have them hang around my wrists. Nutrition went well, no issues: drinking about 20 ounces each hour, and had a Clif bar at the end of the hours (2 and 5) during which I was drinking water + cranberry juice mixture. Nothing too much of note during this part of the course, just trying to keep moving at a decent speed without spiking HR too much. Last 20 miles getting back into town weren’t too bad on the first loop, was at the bottom of Papa Bear before I knew it. Crowds started thickening here, fun! Saw Diane on Northwood, yay! I stopped at Special Needs per my race plan. 3 girls were helping me, 1 holding my bag, 1 holding bike, and other holding stuff I gave her, perfect, and they were so nice and sweet. I took off my arm warmers, refilled the front aero bottle and exchanged the other 2 bottles, and off I was again. Happy I froze the insulated bottles for the second bike loop overnight, everything in there was still cold . I forgot to stretch a bit (sorry, coach P!), when I realized while back on the bike, sat up and stretched my back a bit, still helpful. Lost some Infinit from the front bottle when bumping over the roads downtown, not good. Again, focused on course, technical turns, and short steep downhills in town, so no chance to enjoy the crowds very much. Climb out of town didn’t feel too bad, a good sign that I hadn’t gone too fast on the first loop. Was having some fun on the descent to Keene, trying to go fast with fewer people around this time around, definitely got the adrenaline going! No chain issues this time (luckily). From this point on I was pretty confident I would finish the IM, having survived the bike mount at T1 and both descents! Took a pain-killer at around mile 70, since I was having a slight headache. It was hard to get it down when bending over to try and drink from the front bottle with a straw that's really not long enough. Enjoyed the flat part of the course here, although got a tad upset when a big pack of ~30 people passed me. Guess they were unfamiliar with the no drafting rule?!? Tried to remember the coaches’ wise words: don’t be a ref on the course, stay inside your box with only the things you can control, but still: not fair! From this point on I was doing some tag with a lady who really liked my name, one time when she was passing me, she said “there’s my favorite name again”, sweet! Towards the end of the first loop, the skin behind my knees had started acting up: it was very sticky (maybe some sort of allergic reaction to combination of sunscreen and sticky sports drink that I had gotten all over myself and bike? It felt like glue being torn apart every pedal stroke when unbending my knees. It became more painful on the second loop, so I got some water at the first or second aid station after downtown to wash it a bit, but didn't help much. Finally, decided to stop at the Haselton aid station (around mile 90-95)station and got someone from medical staff to take a look (a good excuse to get off the bike a bit and also used restroom while there, probably took 5-10 minutes all in all, but worth it). They put some Vaseline behind my knees, which helped for the rest of the bike part and had no issues with it on the run. Found out later that I had the same sort of thing going on one side of my neck, weird! Luckily these were not major issues, so didn’t crush my spirits too much. I had decided to make a point out of enjoying the race beforehand, and I definitely did for most of the bike and run parts! I got a lot of “great smile” comments from people cheering along the course . So, then there were the last 20miles of biking, all net uphill, started to look forward to getting off the bike for sure, but still enjoyed riding along the beautiful gorges and Whiteface mountain. Saw another funny sign carried by a woman at the bottom of Papa Bear: “Single & Supportive”, LOL. Considering the male/female ratio was 75%-25%, she was definitely at the right event! Got almost knocked over by a guy weaving like crazy on Northwood, he must have been totally out of it, but led to some scary moments with me yelling "watch it, watch it" at him. My behind started to be quite unhappy, so big smile when riding to the oval on Mirror Lake Dr. knowing that this bike will be soon taken from me to not be ridden again for at least a week or so . Saw Diane, Tina, and Anne on Mirror Lake Dr, jumping like crazy and waving the flag. Thanks girls, all the cheering people are great, but it’s even better if they are good friends who make you feel like a star. The video Anne made of this is great: you hear them saying all excited “yes, I think it’s Astrid”, then I bike by waving, then Anne turns to Diane and Tina who are still jumping up and down and having a ton of fun ):
The bike part took me 6hrs 50mins (16.4 mph average speed), about what I expected based on the time it took me during the EN Rally and staying in (high) Z1 as much as possible, although I had of course hoped to be a bit faster.
T2:
A volunteer took my bike from me, couldn’t wish for anything better at that point. While walking/running to my T2 bag I commented to another athlete “so, only a little running left, and then we’ll be done”, he didn’t seem to agree so much with the “little running”… Picked up T2 bag and went into tent, again directed by many friendly volunteers. I sat down and 2 sweet girls helped me, they turned the bag upside down, and went through pretty much everything and asked if I needed it or not. Had decided to stay in tri-kit, but put on fresh socks (the Wigwam ones with an IM logo on them that I got for free at another race and never dare to wear, not having completed a full IM). I had folded sticky notes with motivational texts from Diana and Diane in this bag to take on run the run with me for the anticipated tough times. One of the girls said "this looks important" and when I explained what they were and that yes, I'd definitely take them with me, they really liked the idea! Took some trash from jersey/shorts pockets, took some additional nutrition with me and off I was again, a little over 4 minutes later.
Run:
I tried to keep moving and do some things while running instead of in T2 like putting on my Garmin and visor, but I was also carrying a bottle so it wasn't all that great of an idea, but managed to get myself sorted. Had forgotten to turn Garmin on and off beforehand, so it took a while for it to find satellites. I started the timer while it was still searching, forgetting to reset it to 0 from my previous run, OOPS! Anyhow, I was mainly carrying it so I could monitor my pace, not for overall time or distance, so no biggie. Really had to try and slow down in the beginning, started running down the huge hill out of town a bit fast (even though it felt super slow). The pounding on the legs while going downhill wasn’t such a great feeling. There was a lot of good stuff to be had at the aid stations: oranges, grapes, bananas, water, ice, cold sponges. I made use of all of it, and later on also took chicken broth at the last several aid stations, and some M&M’s at one of them, yum! Ran with Renae from Boston for a bit, my age, fast marathoner (3h29m), also 1st IM for her, and besides training for all this, she has a full-time job + 4 kids, amazing! Broke the EN rule of No Friends on the run and ran with her for a while, but she was a bit fast for me, so she took off after a while, but still nice to hear someone's story and chat a bit. Saw coach P on my first loop, was looking out for him, since according to calculations/expectations of him going under 10hrs, I should see him bringing it in. And I did see him, one focused and fast runner he was! Also saw plenty of other EN-ers, which was definitely fun. Walked more than hoped for and averaged about a min a mile slower than wished, but hey. Need to work more on the mental aspects of this, since based on training and pacing myself on the bike, I should have been able to run more/faster. It’s so easy to start walking though, especially on the parts of the course that are not spectator-packed!
I even did some slow-motion running for Brenda so she could take a pic of me (uphill back in town around mile 11).
Saw Diane, Tina, and Anne again on Mirror Lake Dr (twice), close to the turn-around point on the first loop, giving the extra motivation to keep running (well, at least until out of sight…). Hard to take the “to second loop” lane instead of the “to finish” one at the Oval. Could hear athletes being proclaimed Ironmen as I started on the second loop, motivation to get that second loop over with and become one myself! Still not running as much as I wanted, but keeping the big smile on my face mostly. Turn-around on Riverside (around mile 17-18) seemed far far away. Neck and shoulders were starting to be a pit painful as well, think because I had been looking up more on the bike than I normally do on training rides to take all the excitement in. Had missed it on my first loop, but saw the motivational text Diana had entered for me at the Expo displayed on a screen at mile 18 (activated by running over a mat). It said “you are awesome!”, even though I didn’t feel so awesome at that point, it definitely helped ! Also read the notes from Diana and Diana at this point. Supersweet and definitely helpful to keep running for a bit more. It started to become a bit colder around this time, so stopped with throwing water over my head and putting cold sponges in my jersey. Running uphill around mile 24 (finally back in town), my "ring" right toe started hurting badly all of a sudden (turned out to be just a blister). Improved after a bit of walking, and decided to ignore it and try to run most of the remaining 2 miles. Turn around out on Mirror Lake Dr (~mile 25) seemed a lot farther than on first loop, but after turning there, big smile was back knowing it was all downhill now, and that I could take the "to finish" route this time instead of the "to second loop" turn at the Oval. Cheering crowds outside and inside the Oval were great, did quite some high-fiving, saw Shosh, and then the finish was already here! And I didn’t even trip on the weird little ramp about 20 meters before the finish . Got immediate support from 2 ladies after finishing and congrats from many volunteers + medal + shirt + hat + mylar blanket. Volunteers were again great with their congratulatory wishes and making sure I was able to stand on my own. Then found Diane in the crowd just after the finish line, big hug over the fence. She got the Diana, Tina, and Anne also from where they had been watching, leading to more big hugs!
Ran almost 12min/mile pace overall on the run, total marathon time 5hrs12mins, leading to 13hr22mins overall time, not too shabby!
I really enjoyed the whole experience: such a beautiful course, can’t say often enough how AWESOME the volunteers were, real fun spectators, and just a very well-run event. Definitely learned a lot too, so maybe next time I will be able to break that magic 12hr mark (or should I start with breaking 13hrs??) ;-).
Comments
Astrid, Congratulations! Welcome to the Ironman family! I totally enjoyed your race report, thank you for taking the time to tell your story of a great day. You stayed in your box and handled what came at you with a SMILE. What more can be asked???!!!!
Nice job Astrid, glad to hear you had fun and experienced as much as you could! Welcome to the IM family!!
Kudos for going w/o the wetsuit - I struggled with the decision.
Solid race - Congrats.
How did you like staying out in Jay?