Emily’s Ironman Lake Placid 2005 Race Report
Emily Brackett 

Some background info:
As many of you know, I was pretty vocal for many years about not wanting to do an Ironman. My reasons were: 1) I think my strengths lie in my speed rather than in endurance and 2) I think it’s unfair that many people (both triathletes & non-triathletes) seem to think you’re not a “real” triathlete unless you’ve done an Ironman. But after several years of racing short course and a particularly successful year of racing in 2004, I decided I would enjoy a new challenge within the sport of triathlon.

I chose Lake Placid because I had driven through the area and knew it was gorgeous. I also thought the July date might allow me some time left in my summer for short course racing (probably not) or for post-race relaxing (we’ll see).

This was my second year working with Sharone Aharon as my coach. Having worked together in 2004, we both understood the base I had to begin the training. He knew my strengths and weaknesses and was able to build my program knowing what type of volume and training I had completed the year before. I felt very well prepared for the event. I had been injury-free for the most part, but it would be the same small things that bugged me in training that would get me on race day.

Randy and I arrived in town the Monday before the race. We had hoped to get to LP for a training session earlier in the summer but it just didn’t work out. So, we wanted to make sure we were able to drive the bike course, bike certain parts and check out everything with plenty of time. We watched as the small town slowly filled with more & more fit athletes.

Some notes on the course:
The swim venue is gorgeous. The water is crystal clear and they string buoys in a way that you can see the rope the entire course (if you choose to swim right on the line). Because of the warm summer the water was warmer than normal, hovering around 76 degrees. However, the lake is pretty small. It was hard to imagine 2000 athletes on the swim course. The course would be 2 laps of the 1.2 mile course with a run across the sand in between.

The bike course is notorious for its hills. And it was just as everyone had described when comparing it to Madison--the hills are longer but not as steep. There is a long, 6-mile descend from about miles 5-11 (loop 1 and miles 61-67 loop 2) that everyone likes to scare you with. But again, it’s not steep (you’re not cramping your hands on the brakes) and it’s not very technical. The dare devils can get down without braking at all; I am a bit more cautious and only needed to feather the brakes to feel in control. When we arrived in town we biked down the descent and climbed back up it. It took 9 minutes to descend and 35 minutes to climb back up. The other noteworthy thing about the bike course is that the last 10 miles of each 56-mile loop is uphill. It varies from nearly flat to serious climbing, but the net gain is uphill for a long time. The rest of the course had a mix of small rollers and even some sections that were fairly flat.

The run course has many small undulations and two major hills. It is also a two-loop course.

The real race report:
In preparing for this race, I had been doing a lot visualizing and planning and felt surprisingly calm on race day. Also, since you have to drop off bikes and gear the day before the stress seemed diffused by race morning. We got to the transition area early, quickly checked our gear and were actually ready to go nearly an hour before race time. I still felt very calm.

I got in the water with plenty of time to relax and float in my wet suit. A lot of the athletes remained on the edges, away from the starting line so they could stand rather than tread water. When the cannon went off most of the athletes had not really lined up so I ended up closer to the front than I might have planned, but I think I was seded correctly as I am a fairly decent swimmer. As expected, it was extremely crowded and my goggles did get knocked askew several times, but I felt that people were trying to be respectful and I really did not find the start too bad. My goal for the swim was to stay relaxed and to find a good draft the entire way. There is no reason to be swimming by yourself in an Ironman. My first lap was about 33 minutes and I finished in 1:06 so that went well.

After getting my wet suit stripped, I ran down to transition. It’s kind of like the Chicago triathlon--quite a hike from the swim exit to transition area. The only eventful thing about T1 was that I was unable to find anyone to put sunscreen on me. I had put some on before the race but knew it wasn’t good that I was going out for a 6+ hour ride without reapplying. Oh well.

I got on my bike and headed onto the course. The first 5 miles are rollers and hills followed by the crazy down hill. The Keane descent was a bit nerve-wracking as it’s pretty crowded at this point in the race and while I hit a max speed of 41 mph, others were flying by at probably 50 or so. Everyone had told me over and over again to take it easy on the first loop. My mantra was to not push, to keep my heart rate low, and to always shift to an easier gear if I wasn’t sure. The first loop went really well. I took me exactly 3 hours. That was faster than I had expected but I had never stood up climbing a hill, my max HR was only 156 and my average HR was 136, so I felt things were in control.

There are 2 or 3 miles at the end of the first loop where you are head back through downtown. This was probably the most fun I had all day. The streets are lined with barricades and everyone is cheering you on. The crowds start at the last hills of the loops and then carry you through downtown. There are a few wide turns and it just a blast using the entire road and being cheered on by so many people.

That was a great feeling, but it was about this time that I started to get a side stitch. Side stitches are one of those “issues” that had come up repeatedly in training (more on the run, but sometimes on the bike) which I could never completely solve. I had come to the conclusion that they were caused by too much concentrated calories that were not processing in my stomach. I had stopped using solid foods (instead using Gatorade and CarboPro) in my training and they had seemed to have disappeared for me on the bike. Well, they were back on race day. I’m not sure what caused it, I think it may have been that I was quite hungry after the swim and got a bit ahead of schedule on my nutrition. Also, on race day, compared to training days, I am in the aero position much more (no stopping at lights, etc.) which can make food more difficult to process. I think all those little times I would sit up to get through an intersection helps to get the nutrition down.

So, I tried to sit up really tall during all the rollers leaving town. I even had to sit up alot going down the descent because it was becoming so painful to lean over. I also switched to water and took an extra thermolyte. As I finished completing the downhill I decided I should even consider getting off the bike for a short break to give the area some room. But, for some reason right about mile 12 it disappeared. For a while.

I spent miles 12-30 being very cautious. I continued to stick with water and then watered down my nutrition solution. It was a tough call because I didn’t want to get behind on my calories. Things would seem good for a while and then the stitch would begin to return. I had a similar thing happen in the last 5 miles of a Half Ironman I did in May and one big thing that helped was stopping to pee. Even though I didn’t realize that I need to pee, I really did. So... it seemed like the perfect time to try peeing while riding. I think the the experts always suggest you try something new on race day! It’s a good course for this because there are some nice down hills for standing up a bit and letting it go. And, it helped. For a while.

Basically, the stitch kept coming and going and I tried to do my best to juggle: getting in calories without making it worse; keeping hydrated without making it worse; and still biking without too much pain. Around mile 40 I did stop at an aid station and just stood there for a few minutes. As I did that I could feel the area loosening up, and then I wondered why I hadn’t done that earlier. So, all in all I was in some discomfort for much of the 2nd loop, but I also knew that the slowing down may have been beneficial in that I didn’t push too hard on the bike.

Another thing to mention is that the wind really picked up on loop 2. Where I hit 41 on the first loop descent I only got in the mid 30s the second time around. And the flat areas where I had been able to get up into a big gear the first time I was now in a middle gear. So, all in all my total bike time was about 6:19 with the last loop taking nearly 20 minutes more.

I had a feeling my stomach would feel much better when I could be in the upright position on the run. And I was right. I felt terrific leaving T2. I’ve never had too much trouble running off a bike and I was happy that my legs felt great on this occasion too. So far, everything was going well. The whole first loop (13 miles) went very well. I settled into a good pace and felt strong. I started to get blisters which is another one of my “issues” I had not been able to completely resolve. I’ve been able to minimize them, and deal with them but not completely avoid them. At the halfway point, I put a band aid on one the blisters that was starting and switched to dry socks. Everything was continuing to go well although I was starting to hate the idea of drinking more gatorade. It just seemed to be giving me heartburn and I was nervous about the return of the side stitch.

Around mile 15 is when things got more difficult. My calf/achilles area began to ache on my left leg. This was the only minor injury I had dealt with in my training and I was really disappointed when I felt the first twinge. But, that was what it was--just a twinge of stiffness and soreness. I had felt this before and it never amounted to anything so I wasn’t too worried. Also around this time I was finding Gatorade to be very unappetizing. I tried Coke, and it was great -- in addition to the sugar, it settled my stomach. But, after I tried it at mile 16 they did not have more at any aid station. They were out, and hey I wasn’t exactly in the back of the pack. This is my only complaint about the organization of the event.

Unfortunately around mile 19 I felt something “pop” in my left calf. At the time I wasn’t sure if it was a cramp or a tear. I walked a couple of minutes and then I tried to jog. While it was painful I really did not want to walk the last 6+ miles of the marathon. That would be torture.

So I kept jogging and after 10 minutes or so it just settled into a sore but not overly painful condition. I really could not push off hard, but I could maintain a slow jog. I definitely had some feelings of disappointment at that time as I was on course to break 12 hours but I knew that at this slower pace I would not make that goal. But I also know that I was not guaranteed a sub-12 hour time even without this condition, there is just too much that can happen.

I finished in 12:21. A time that was definitely in my range of goal times and of which I am very proud. It was disappointing to have “tasted” the possibility of going sub 12 and then not reaching it, but in the end I was very happy. I think that I trained smart (Sharone was right that I had done enough long rides and runs!); and raced smart. For a first Ironman I think it was a great performance.

Final thoughts:
Do I have the Ironman bug and want to do another one?
No. I may do another one again some day, but I do not feel compelled to in the near future. I still feel my strengths lie in shorter, more speedier events. This training has helped me with my endurance and I hope that will have benefits in Olympic or Half Ironman distance events.

Did I like it, was I glad I did it?
Yes, I was glad I did it. Life is for living and I think it’s exciting to giving yourself new challenges. But, the last half of the marathon was so painful and I’d rather take my 2.5 hours of pain in the form of a high-intensity Olympic distance race rather than the slow plod of the last leg of an Ironman run.

Was this a life changing event?
Sorry, no. But, I don’t want to belittle anyone who feels that it is for them. For me, I knew on some level I could complete an Ironman distance event for the past several years. But, I do respect that no one really knows for sure until you do the whole 140.6. It is a major accomplishment and I’m proud of how well it went. Also I think it’s important to continually remind myself how lucky I am. I have the health, the mental strength, the financial ability and the freedom to participate in this amazing event. Because of the large commitment--sign up one year in advance; pay alot of money; train conscientiously for 7 or so months; continually juggle work and family commitments to fit everything in, etc.--it is an amazing process.

How’s my calf?
Right now it’s sore but not too painful, so I do not think it’s a major tear or other serious injury. I plan to get it checked out and I’ll just have to see how it feels as I recover.

Did I ruin my bike shoes by peeing on the bike?
No. I soaked them for several hours in about 1/4 cup bleach and a bucketful of water. I followed that which a thorough washing (by hand) with soap and water. They actually smell better now than they did pre-race.