IMLP Race Report - The View From The Back Of The Pack
Where to start??? I guess a little background first: In 2009, I was going through an ugly divorce, and decided to get my large ass off the couch and stop feeling sorry for myself. I was about 250 pounds at the time, started working on running(waddling) first, then dusted off my bike and started riding again. Decided to do Timberman half in 2010 with the support of my girlfriend(wife). In July of 2010, I convinced her to support me in signing up for 2011 IMLP, before I had even done a half! I completed Timberman (6:27), and then while I was training on the LP course last May, my front tire fell in a crack in the road (mile 30 of the LP course, just after the turnaround in Ausable) and next thing I knew I was lying in the road with a broken collar bone. 
I elected to have surgery, which consisted of a 6 inch plate and 9 screws. There was no way I could be ready for LP 2011, so I didn’t even go to spectate last year. Just before LP last year, I convinced my wife that I should sign up for this all over again with the hope of a better result. So for a second year, I was sitting at my computer at exactly 12:00 ready to sign up. Then I spent a whole year being as careful as possible while riding, trying to not worry about how much it would suck if I were to crash again and not be able to compete. I completed Pumpkinman half (6:21) last September with minimal bike training.
Three months ago, while reading IMLP race reports, I stumbled across EN, and immediately fell in love with the philosophy. While I have only been on the team for a few months, I feel I have gained several years of experience from everything I have read/absorbed, and that knowledge certainly helped me to have a successful day last Sunday.
On to the Race Report…
Pre Race:
My wife(Deb, also an EN member) and I arrived Wed night, stayed at the Courtyard. Tried to stay away from the craziness as much as possible. However, neither of us had ever been to an IM event, so we had to spend at least some time at the venue. Went to the Thursday EN dinner, had a great time (Thanks Woody and Kevin), swam 30 minutes Friday morning and then went to the 4 Keys Talk. Relaxed most of the day Saturday while Deb road one loop of the bike course. Did my best to hydrate and get some extra electrolytes on board all day Saturday. Went to bed at 9pm, didn’t get much sleep.
Race morning:
2:00am, had two cups of applesauce and some protein powder. 4:00am, got up and had some oatmeal. Deb gave me a ride to the venue, and I was one of the first people to go into transition. Pumped my tires, put my nutrition into my bags, thought everything was all set, so I went out of transition to find Deb. At about 6:00am, realized I was missing my gel that I was planning on taking prior to the swim, so I calmly walked from the EN tent back to my bike, where I found the bag hanging from my bike handlebars. Oh well, still got plenty of time to be back for the EN team photo at 6:30. Got back to the EN tent with plenty of time to spare. Ate my gel at about 6:18, then took my jacket off to get ready for the team photo…and realized that my Garmin was strapped to my wrist. My Garmin was supposed to be on my bike, not on my wrist…oops! Not so calmly speedwalked back to my bike, attached the Garmin to the bike, and got back just in time for the EN team picture.
Swim: 1:38:22 - 303 AG - 2363 OA
Lined up almost all the way to the right side, waited in waist deep water until the cannon fired. I knew I would be one of the slower swimmers out there, and hoped that I would be behind all the crowds. Well that didn’t happen, as I was getting hit and kicked like I’ve never experienced. I did my best to stay in my box, and not get upset by all the people who thought it acceptable to swim right over my back. I had several people who just put their palm in the square of my back and used my back as their traction mechanism. Not sure if it actually sped up their swimming, but it definitely slowed down my progress. About 10 minutes into the swim, I heard a lot of yelling….that’s weird, there shouldn’t be any spectators out here cheering. Then all the swimmers in front of me stopped. It was the competitors who were yelling, for a kayaker to come over and assist a swimmer who was in distress. Distress might be putting it mildly, as he was on his back, and someone had their arm around his neck. He didn’t appear to be conscious, and I couldn’t see whether he was breathing. After the shock wore off and the kayaker got close and I realized that I was too far away to be of any help, I put my head down and continued swimming. I must say for the next 15 minutes or so, the swimming was much more calm and relaxed. I think I was swimming with all the other people who had witnessed the same thing I did, and we all had a reality slap that this swimming thing can be dangerous. I made it to the cable shortly before the first turn, and then stayed on the cable for the rest of my swim. After the third or fourth time I swam directly into/under one of the triangular swim bouys, I realized I could count my strokes and predict when I was almost there, and then go wide around them. Worked very well, and gave me something to do. Felt good when I exited my second loop, and managed a slow jog to T1. T1 went well, (9:51) and I did a pretty good job of keeping it simple.
Bike: 7:57:28 - 294 AG - 2228 OA
Felt good starting on the bike, but found my HR wasn’t where I expected it to be(I don’t have power yet). First time I looked at it, I was coasting down Main Street, and it was 140, which is top of Z2. My plan was to keep my HR between 130-135 for the first 90 minutes. I realized that even when I wasn’t pedaling, my HR wouldn’t go below 135, and since the downhill was about to end, I had to modify my plan. I decided to ride “stupid easy” and live with whatever HR that produced. On the ride out of town, my HR averaged 150, which I had hoped to avoid all day. Lots of people passed me in the first 8 miles, but I took CoachP’s advice and let them all go. HR was still averaging 140 on the descent into Keene, but I still felt good. About 90 minutes in, my stomach started feeling “full”. I figured I probably needed more fluid, so I upped my intake. I was using Perpetum for fuel, and then adding GU-BRU to my water for electrolytes. I think I got behind on my fluid intake in the first 90 minutes, and I never totally recovered all day. Taking in fluid became harder and harder, as my stomach kept feeling full. I kept reminding myself that not taking in fluid wasn’t an option, so I just slowed down when I needed to, and kept drinking as much as I could. I didn’t start seeing the carnage that an IM course can produce until I was on the climb to Whiteface (first loop), when I saw someone (aero helmet, disc wheel, all the bling) sitting on the side of the road leaning up against a guard rail, with his bike leaning against the guard rail as well. He was probably 25 or 30, didn’t look like he had an ounce of extra fat on him, just sitting there with a blank look on his face. I remember thinking “Wow, I bet he was fast on the first 40 miles…”. After that I started passing more and more people. It was easy to pass people when they were stopped and I was still riding! The results say I passed 135 people on the bike, and I would say the vast majority of them were either stopped at an aid station or on the side of the road when I passed. Second loop was slower than the first, but I was still feeling basically OK other than my stomach still feeling full. I was somewhere around mile 85 when my Mother passed me! No, not my real mother, but a lady old enough to be my mother. In his 4 keys talk, Patrick talked about having your “father” pass you, and how demoralizing that can be, but you need to let him go and stay in your box. But he didn’t say anything about my Mother! My Mother is a GrandMother for crying out loud! Patrick, you never said I had to let Gramma pass me! Fortunately, this whole discussion with myself only took a couple of seconds, and I let Gramma go, although I did pass her several times on the downhills. Over and over again on the second loop, I would see a spectator sitting by themselves on the side of the course under a tree, and think “That’s a pretty lonely place to spectate”. Then when I got closer, I would see that the spectator was sporting a race number….so I would take comfort in the fact that while I’m pretty close to the back of the pack, I’m still moving. Eventually I made it to the end of the bike portion and felt OK other than my stomach. T2 went smoothly (4:45), and out on the run I went!
Run: 5:26:55 - 257 AG - 1870 OA
Run Splits: 10:48, 10:48, 11:07, 12:15, 10:53, 11:16, 11:32, 12:24, 15:52, 18:02, 12:48, 12:21, 12:09, 12:27, 11:51, 12:08, 12:46, 11:20, 11:53, 11:55, 12:45, 12:16, 13:11, 13:32, 13:47, 12:06
Felt fairly good on the start of the run, was shooting for 10:30’s for the first 6 miles. Used Perform and water from the course for the first 6 miles. I found that more people were walking than were running. I walked just the aid stations for the first 6 miles, but found that my stomach was getting worse around mile 8. I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to keep going much longer, so I decided to walk for a bit to try to reset the stomach. I walked mile 9 and 10, drank extra at each aid station, and waited for my stomach to feel better. Made a porta potty stop on mile 10, which was the first time I peed all day(I know, not a good sign). After that, I felt considerably better and was able to pick the pace up for the rest of the marathon. None of the mile splits are super impressive, but I was running more than I was walking. By the time I got to mile 18 (the line), I looked up and realized that I was one of the few people running at all. You were right CoachP, it does look like a charity walk! I didn’t need to worry about running fast, just running. I managed to pass 358 people on the run, and 37 of them were in my age group! I think that puts me just slightly ahead of the back of the pack…lol. At mile 25 I noticed that I was feeling a little bit dizzy. That would really suck to make it 139.6 miles and not finish…but it didn’t seem too bad so I kept running. I passed the finish line at 15:17:21, and heard the wonderful words “Greg Livernois, you are an Ironman!”. Luckily the volunteers were there to catch me. They took my chip, gave me my medal and some water, and asked me what I wanted. I told them I wanted to sit down, and they escorted me to a folding chair. Right after I sat down the dizziness got worse, I started to get tunnel vision, and thought I might pass out. Once the volunteers realized I wasn’t going anywhere under my own power, they escorted me to the medical tent. They asked me a few questions to assess my condition, and I didn’t do so well, which confirmed their decision that I should go to the med tent. Question #1 – Do you know where you are? I didn’t have a problem with that one. Question #2 – Is Mickey Mouse a cat or a duck? It took me three tries to get that one right! So future IM triathletes…study up, cuz there just might be a test at the end of your day! I only spent 15 minutes in the med tent and felt much better after a little water.
I think the thing I am most happy/proud of is how well I executed on race day. I wasn’t blessed with one of the faster “vehicles” on race day, but I think I drove the vehicle I had pretty well. I haven’t had a chance to see the long term benefits from training with EN, but I’ve learned a whole lot about race execution in the last two months. Knowing what I know now, I’m not confident at all that I would have been able to complete IMLP without the wisdom of EN, so thank you RnP, and everyone else. If you’ve posted something helpful in the last year or two, there’s a good chance I read it.
Finally, I would like to thank my wonderful wife, Deb. Without her constant support, I don’t think this would have been possible. I look forward to returning the favor as she trains toward her goal of IMFL 2014.
Comments
Of course, I say that in jest - those questions can be so tricky when not thinking straight.
At least you were thinking straight enough to realize that you needed to sit down at the finish to recover.
Great job sticking it out. 358 people... damn.
Seriously, great race & great effort, it was really great getting to know you during LP race camp & seeing you out on the course!
Congratulations!
FWIW, I always get light headed when I finish races and sitting in a chair is the worst thing for me... I either need to simply keep walking for a while or to lay down flat on my back and put my legs in the air.
Great job, to push yourself thru the day, and not get distracted with anything from your pre-race back and fourth to when Grandma passed you on the bike. Scary to hear about someone in the water needing emergency help like that. I am new and that would have freaked me out. WAY TO GO.
And that Mickey Mouse question? Geez, that's mean. I can't even do simple math at the end of an Ironman. What are they thinking with that trick question? Ha!
---Ann.
Congrats!
Congrats!! Nothing like the finish of your first IM.
Greg - you are a" twelve minute Rockstar". Two years to get there, but you made it!