Pete Lautenslager IMLP Race Report

Summary:  10:36:45         2/161 M 55-59, 94/2758 Overall

This was my second IMLP having completed my first Ironman at Lake Placid in 2015.  I finished 10th in my age group that year.  

We vacationed last year in Placid and watched the race.  When I saw the times in my new AG (I turned 55 last year) I started to think what might be possible.  So I signed up with a semi naive hope of a possible KQ.  When the participant list came out for this year’s race and I did my usual cyber stalking of names I was pretty depressed to see a who’s who of top 55 - 59 athletes.  It seemed like 4 or 5 guys had all done Kona last year and that’s even before Cronk signed up!  So I was very apprehensive going into this race as to how I might place.

I knew that I had trained really well this year but I was still filled with a fair amount of uncertainty of just how far I had come.  The one test I thought might give me a clue was Syracuse 70.3, but the weather turned out to be so hot for the race all of my times were severely skewed and although I finished well I still wasn’t fully sure where I stood in terms of my fitness and speed.

This year we arrived in Placid on Friday.  In the past we came up on Wednesday, however since it’s a family vacation and my wife also races, it doesn’t make for a great vacation sitting around for 4 days not being able to do much other then worry (can’t drink, eat bad food, hike, etc.) So this year we decided to backload the vacation with more time after the race and that really worked out well.  Register, drop your bike off and boom it’s race day.  Much less pre-race stress this year.  The only downside is that I  missed all of the EN socializing and events and really wanted to meet everyone that was doing the race.

Saturday night was probably the best night of sleep I’ve ever had before a race.  I had done all of my pre-race worries and mental walk throughs in the previous nights and Saturday I fell asleep at 8:30 and woke up around 4:30.   I worked my way down to the swim and ran into Patrick and Mariah.  Patrick gave me his pep talk but the most important thing he said was to “let the race come to you”.  That really was my mantra for at least the swim and the bike - everything changed once I knew where I stood on the run.

Swim - 1:09.08

9th in AG

I lined up at the front end of the 1:10 group and I thought the new 10 second delays worked well.  There were no log jams for me at the start like there was in 2015.  I tend to drift to my right when I swim and soon I was over the cable.  I’m still not sure if I like the cable.  It is faster but you pay the price for some major contact and about half way down the first leg it was a slugfest.  I don’t really mind the contact but it takes a lot of energy to fight the fight and by the second loop I started to fatigue and I just focused on staying long and strong and finishing steady.  I was happy with the 1:09 - almost 4 minutes faster than 2015

T1 - 4:58

I felt happy and fast running up to T1, I found my bag grabbed it and then looked up to see about 5 volunteers all yelling that I grabbed the wrong bag (I took the run bag).  I abruptly stopped and wiped out on the wet concrete.  Now all flustered I couldn’t get my correct bike bag off the hook.  It felt like it took an eternity to finally be on my bike, however I think I still had the fastest T1 time in the AG.

Bike - 5:36.11

3rd in AG

My first goal was to stay steady, follow my target heart rate and if that was in the green ride my goal watts of 210.  I spun up the hills, rode the TT sections hard and didn’t go crazy down into Keene.  I also was very focused on maintaining that same precision on the second loop where it’s  easy to add time versus your first loop - especially as the wind picks up.  My second goal was to drink!  I have a very bad habit of forgetting to drink and this time I was determined to keep up with my drinking and I’m happy to say that I achieved the coveted 2 pees on the bike and still had to go when I started the run!  

I really feel that some of the big bike weeks in the plan this year, especially a 265 mile weekend 4 weeks before the race paid off well for me. I also use Best Bike Splits and it predicted me at a 5:35.30. I used the splits from BBS as a high level guide to monitor how I was doing all day.  I promised myself not to get wrapped up in goal times but as the ride progressed I was ahead of my times only falling back slightly in the last 10 miles. For those that are not familiar with BBS it’s scary how accurate it can predict a ride, providing you ride your goal watts.

T2 - 2:02

Get in and get out.  Not much to tell other than taking Time Cronks advice to grab all of your stuff while running and straighten it out while on the road.  I also had the fastest T2 in my AG

Run - 3:42.13

2nd in AG

I felt strong heading out on the run and it was here that I was starting to think that I had something really good in the works.  Around mile 5 I ran into Mike Roberts.  I usually like to run alone but as we ran together we chatted about the race and Mike’s advice and guidance kept me on track.  Part of me was thinking the last thing I need right now is to try to stay with Mike Roberts, however it was the best thing that could have happened to me.  Of course Mike was out on his “fun run” but I was running well within myself and staying with him really kept me on track and in control, we seemed to be working well together and it made the first loop go by quickly.  

At around mile 8, the first place guy in my AG passed me and I realized that I was in second place and everything changed.  I think Mike got more excited than I did.  He started to map out my strategy, “the hills are where you will win the race” and “at mile 18 it’s game on”  I actually laughed to myself thinking “dude, I’ve got one speed and this is it! - there isn’t going to be a game on...”  When we got to the turnaround of lap one, I started to pull away a bit and to be honest I was more intent on not disappointing Mike then anything else.  Thanks Mike for the motivation and inspiration!  

When I got to Lisa G’s I had a large posse of friends that were going crazy and I picked up some major mojo.  I looked to my right and my son and daughter were running next to me and started to give out my stats from the day, but most importantly they told me I was about 4 minutes behind first and a good ten minutes ahead of 3rd.  I realized that with a steady effort I might reel in first but I definitely felt I could hold off third - I now knew that I was about to have an incredible race!  At the River road turnaround it started to hurt - right on schedule - and I focused on keeping pace as best as I could.  At this point I started to extend the aide station walking with water at the front and Coke at the back and then willing myself to start running again.  I ran about one third up ski jump hill and then walked to keep my HR in control.  I was steady but in pain all the way back to Lisa G’s where it was chaos.  Patrick came running out and pushed me in the back up the hill yelling out “drink Coke from here on out!” I thought to myself I have no stomach to drink anything from here on out!  (and I didn’t,  skipping the last 2 aid stations) , a good friend of mine started yelling at me “you must  run the hill” and my kids barked out my current place and time - the good news was that I was still 5 minutes behind first but now over 15 minutes ahead of third - I walked the hill.  I also thought to myself “ holy shit I’m going to qualify for Kona!!  At the top of townie hill I started to run again and pushed to the finish.  The out and back on lake road is pure hell and I told myself it’s less than 2 miles, it’s everything you’ve got.  I was able to put in a 7:55 last mile.  I was in a sea of first loopers and when we hit the fork in the road it was an amazing feeling to be the only one to turn right.  I had the oval to myself, I high five’d my kids and finished.  I was in total shock - mission accomplished!