IMLP race report
The week leading up to LP was pretty good. I spent some time in Upstate New York at my parents’ home before heading into LP on Thursday. I was able to settle in the house, get in a quick ride and eat a delicious burrito downtown. The rest of the time was spent doing the little admin things like check in, bike check, etc. with no real hiccups to the schedule. I met with my cousin a bunch and made him ride the decent (he crashes a lot) while helping get him acquainted with the venue. Other than that, I just stayed pretty low key at the house while my wife knit and read. Race morning went fine leading up to the swim start.
Swim 33:37/37:18 Total 1:10:55 146/773/622
I didn’t have any water & ran out of Perform to take my gel before the swim, so I only took ½ of it figuring the water I drank from the lake during the swim would dilute it. I lined up where I was last year (middle about 15 yards back) and it seemed somewhat open. For some reason I just kept getting pushed in toward the buoys, so I was at the line before the first turn. I was getting my ass kicked!!! Just continued to try and find some space and when I got out I saw 43:xx, but heard the announcer say that Andy Potts was about to come out of the water, so I knew it was a 33:xx since the pros had a 10 minute head start. The second loop was straight and on the inside of the cable the whole time, but once again I was intermittently beat up. I tried to relax and just go easy, but I went a little too easy with an almost 4 minute difference.
T1- 6:59
A little slow as I just felt disorganized for some reason. I ran to the tent, just need to stop thinking in there.
Bike- 6:30:11
I felt like the bike went really well until the last segment. I was right where I wanted to be and kept hitting the lap button with each section. I felt my nutrition was ok, but turned out not to be the case as I would find out in T2 (but started to feel during the last 12 miles—actually showed up earlier but didn’t recognize it). I drank a bottle of Infinite and 1 bottle of perform the first hour, then a perform bottle every aid station. I repeated this on the 2nd loop as well. Also took an S-cap every hour. I was staying just below my watts on the climbs, not pushing at all during the first loop, pushing the downhills and flats at .70 on the second loop. I stayed in my bars on all the climbs as the headwind on the back side of the course was wicked all day. Highlight was hitting 52.3 on the descent to Keene and just finding a perfect rhythm on the flat from Keene to Jay on loop 2.
T2- 26:16
Got off the bike and couldn’t really jog it out. I sat down in the tent and had trouble getting my shoes on. My mind and body just weren’t connected 
. A volunteer came over and asked if I needed help and I could just nod “no”. This happened several times until the med guy came over. I was doing well with nodding at the yes/no questions, but then he asked me to describe what I drank….I wanted to say perform at every aid station, but the wires from my brain to my mouth were not working…couldn’t talk. My face and arms were tingling and at a few points I was shaking. He asked if I had every DNF’d and if this was an option—shook head “no”. The med guy was great and said if I was willing to sit there, drink water, etc that I’d eventually finish (although I’d have to walk part of the run—I wasn’t happy about that statement 
) as it was only a little before 3:00 pm. He got me to get a gel down and some of my salt pills. Eventually I started to perk up and was told to drink 2 water/2 perform at every station until I peed. Besides being frustrated in my own head, I just kept hearing Coach P from the 4 Keys talk: “Ironman is a long day. You can fix whatever goes wrong, you just have to figure out how to fix it and give it time to happen”. Well, the med guy taught me how to fix it, now it was just about time. This was probably my deepest, darkest place yet…..it made all those sports concussions I’ve had seem like childs’ play if you can believe it!!!
Run- 4:44:43
Thank god this run starts downhill. I was running and saw Coach P by the bike shop. Thanks for telling me to look up vs. at the ground. I was able to run pretty well, focusing on trying to keep it at 10:00/mile for the first 6 as it was hot. Just drank at every aid station and used the bathroom by mile 3. Took salt pills every other station. I was moving well and feeling better. I saw my cousin who was struggling and gave him 2 of my last 4 salt tabs at mile 8. I was feeling tired by the big hill into town and just wanted to get a good rhythm, which I did. At special needs aid station, the wheels came off the bus again. I felt the same as before and just stopped. I tried to get some GU chomps down and could only get 3 of the 4. I kept telling myself, just keep moving forward. It took me 30 minutes to do that out and back to return to the special needs aid station, which is only a 1.3 mile segment 
!!! Once again, “time to try and fix things”, which at this point meant no more Perform as it just wasn’t getting into my system---coke, water and gels. During that walking stretch I was lucky enough to get some water from Scott D. and a salt pill from another EN’er (who was this? You saved me with that thing). My cousin had also caught me by then and told me there would be Endurolytes with his wife at the Marriot waiting for me. By the time I got back to the special needs aid station I was feeling better, so I slammed some Coke and then I was off again---thank god once again for the downhill. The rest of the run was the same as my legs felt good and I picked up more salt tabs and drank a lot of coke. Aid stations around mile 20-23 were longer, because GU gels are thick and hard to get down, so more walking than 30 steps, but just kept moving. At around the Marriot on the home stretch, I heard a guy say 12:41—you can finish in under 13 hours. This got me going as last year I was 17 seconds short---time to pick up the pace. Found a rhythm on the hill again and made quick work of all 3 aid stations, by walking less and just grabbing water on the run for the last one. Turned the corner in the oval and saw 12:58:55 and knew I was under 13 hours!!!!
Run laps: 10:04, 10:08, 10:16, 10:07, 9:53, 10:05, 10:00, 10:21, 11:04, 10:52, 11:43, 17:59, 20:01, 10:46, 9:04, 8:50, 9:44, 9:02, 10:32, 11:14, 11:26, 11:06, 10:43, 9:44, 9:41, 8:48
Volunteers were great as I crossed the finish. I was once again feeling tingles in my face and arms and struggling. The coke at the finish was great as I just couldn’t get the chocolate milk down. After about 30 minutes I went and found my wife who was waiting, collected my things and went for a hot shower.
It was awesome seeing so many EN people out there. While some of us had conversations, some of us just gave nods, and some just talked about “beer” (Dottie)….either way it was the best part of the day. I also have to thank all the EN people along the course as I heard so many of your voices---you guys ROCK 
!
While my PR is only 1 minute and 13 seconds, I feel like I earned it! I will be doing the nutrition thing tomorrow (Wednesday)…ya think? While I would have liked the 12:30ish time, I feel that the day was really a good reality for me about why I do Ironman, which is to truly see how the mind, body and emotions are connected, but separate from one another…
For the data junkies:
IMLP total ride:
Duration: 6:29:11
Work: 3617 kJ
TSS: 293.1 (intensity factor 0.673)
Norm Power: 161
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: -0.54%
Pa:HR: 1.04%
Distance: 111.293 mi
Elevation Gain: 4875 ft
Elevation Loss: 5066 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-188 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 357 155 watts
Heart Rate: 111 173 142 bpm
Cadence: 8 206 83 rpm
Speed: 0 52.3 17.2 mph
Pace 1:09 0:00 3:30 min/mi
Altitude: 219 1926 900 ft
Crank Torque: 0 1800 162 lb-in
Temperature: 71.6 96.8 86.1 Fahrenheit
Comments
congrats Keith! Great report and way to keep at it.
I remember being on the out and back on the second loop at Lake Placid in 2007, both hamstrings locked up in total cramp as I stood over the top tube of my bike unable to pedal. Some guy rode up behind me, patted me on the back, and told me it would be OK. It was a long day and I still had lots of time to get myself sorted out. I did (but it was painful). It's a good lesson to be reminded of as we head into our races this year!
A great report. And congrats on the PR!
---Ann.
And too, well done working through all those mid-race issues; it's tough to know what action to take when we're so befuddled.
Keith - Super race. Way to dig deep and finish strong with a PR.
Congrats on a job well done!
Way to stick it out. It was a tough day with the heat and wind, and you for sure dug deep to get it done.
Also, you scared the CRAP out of me on that descent. I thought I was flying, and then you went by me like a freakin' bullet. I coulda been standing still. Holy cow, man. Way to stay solid. :-)
Side note: Your wife is so sweet! Loved getting to chat with you guys at the finish party and at breakfast. :-)
A PR is always casue for celebration, and speeding up at the end of the run is another sign of a successful race. The pieces are clicking together for you.