Ironman Lake Placid 2021

"This is it. My last Ironman. 6 Ironman finishes is pretty good. I said when I stop having fun, I'll stop this craziness. The last 15 miles was NOT FUN!! I'll just request to drop from Ironman Indiana to the 70.3. That will be way better. I don't suffer for hours on a 70.3"

I have had trouble typing this out. Part of my brain didn't want to. When I type out a race report, it brings back feelings, emotions, successes and failures. It reminds me of things I did well, things I failed at. The good, the bad and the ugly. This blog entry is just my race day. There will be another blog about the entire vacation. (The entire vacation was epic!) 

Packet pickup: Just getting into Lake Placid was pretty cool. Leaving NY City and ending up in the Adirondack Mountains was an awesome change in scenery. The smell of fresh mountain air and the laid back feeling was welcomed. There's an energy at an Ironman Village. You get to see athletes that are all ready to test themselves. Seasoned veterans and first timers all there to get the coveted IM wristband. The official first step that an epic race is about to happen. Mike Reilly, The Voice of Ironman, yep, got to meet him and got my pic with him. 

Practice swim in Mirror Lake: I needed this so bad. You wanna escape all your stress and problems? Immerse yourself in a lake surrounded by mountains. I got to see the infamous cable. Its a cable placed in the water, about a foot under the water that gives a straight line to swim the course. Not having to sight buoys,  I was able to swim pretty fast (for me). I swam 30 minutes and got out feeling confident about the swim.

Practice Keene descent: part of the bike course is the infamous Keene descent. A 5-6 mile downhill bomb that has turns, and cross winds! This, my friends, is not my strength when it comes to cycling. First trip down the descent was not bad. The best sherpa ever, Brittney, drove us back up to do it again. The 2nd time down, the cross winds caught my front tire and I experienced the death wobble. It was brief and I reigned it in quickly, but I wasn't about to risk my entire race to bomb down the hill. Thankful for the opportunity to ride it before race day.

race bags..so many bags..morning clothes, bike, bike personal needs, run, run personal needs. Making sure the correct nutrition was in the correct bags. What did I need for race morning? My family was out shopping when I was filling these bags. Thank goodness. I was stressing over this. I'll pack these before I leave the house for Indiana. Major UH OH happened race morning over these bags...

Race morning, Rain. Awake at 3am. Slept ok. Check the weather, rain till about 0900. That means swim in the rain and bike the Keene descent in the rain. Plan on taking that silly easy. I eat my oatmeal, banana and peanut butter. Brittney reminds me to take off my wedding ring. I place my Infinit bottles in my morning clothes bag. Gotta put those on my bike and hand held in my run bag which are at transition. Make sure I got all my stuff and put on my hoodie to stay warm. Britt delivers me to shuttle location (which is also the Tech's AirBnB) at 0420. Line is kind of long and only getting longer. Heather Jackson, PRO Triathlete is about 10-15 people in front of us. Shuttles show up. Off we go. 

First stop transition at Northwoods School. Raining pretty good. Decision is made to leave stuff in bags so they don't get soaked. I would've rather set out a transition set up, but it was better to not have soaked socks and shoes. I put the bottles on my bike. I put some stuff back in my morning clothes bag. Fill the water tank up front. Use the porta potty and off to the shuttle to swim start.

We, (Team Tech and I) find a tree to try and stay dry (fail) under. We start putting wetsuits, lube and Amp lotion on. This is when I find my sunglasses and handheld water bottle (which has my Infinit run mix in it). These items should be in my run bag which is back at transition. A very smart man once said, "OH SHIT!!" I also uttered those exact words. It was 0550. Shuttles stop running at 0600. If the sun comes out and I have no sunglasses, my eyes are not gonna be happy. Bright weather doesn't help me run. Not having my handheld is really gonna suck as I trained with these calories. Part of Ironman asks "Can you overcome obstacles?" I took a deep breath. I considered my options. I took the sunglasses and handheld bottle to the "Glasses" table at swim start. I asked if I could give them my items now and if they would deliver them to swim out? No problem I was told. They were put in ziplock bags and marked with my number. Deep breath out. First problem solved. I smiled all the way back to our tree. Finished getting ready and to the start we went. Chris and Paige were focused to crush this. I felt prepared. The time to crush was upon us. 

Chris and I went and splashed the water to get the feeling of the temp. I believe it was 71. Perfect. Most racers were in long sleeve suits. We had sleeveless suits. I like the shoulder mobility of the sleeveless suit. Mike Reilly was in the crowd of racers! High fives and using the microphone to get us pumped up. The man is a star who likes being among his racers. Is that a dolphin? Nope! It was a scuba diver! They had 2 scuba divers watching from under the water! The canon went off and the line funneled into Mirror Lake. My plan was to stay just off the cable so I didn't fight for water with other racers. I ended up right on the cable. The "washing machine" was in full effect. I followed that cable like my life depended upon it. Swam over some small buoys. Got pushed and kicked. Used my arms to push people off me. It was a touch chaotic. I figured this would thin out as the race went on. I stayed calm but confident. I was prepared. I swam feeling strong. Loop 1 was done and I jumped out to go to loop 2. Sucked down a SIS gel and dove back in. It was time to finish this swim. Used that cable to help me. Watched for feet in front of me. Let faster swimmers pull me. Swam around people who got tired before I did. Swam toward the exit and smiled so big. 6 Ironman swims completed! Swimming isn't my forte but I did well in Mirror Lake. 1:14 for the 2.4mile swim. Heck yea. Even better was when I remembered to get my sunglasses and water bottle. There they were. I grabbed them and off I went. Found a big rock that was a perfect place to sit and remove my wetsuit. It was a long way to transition, but I found my bike pretty easy. Emptied the bike bag, wiped off my feet, and got ready to ride. Turned on my bike computer and loaded pockets with gels. Out of transition I went. Rain had just stopped. Roads were very wet. We start going down some hills. Through this part of town where there was a TON of people!! Everyone full of energy and cheering like crazy. I draw energy from that. I smiled from ear to ear. One fear I had was that spectators wouldn't come out because of Covid. That fear was quickly erased. The spectators came and did their job! My favorite spectators, Brittney, Heidi and Savvy would be out, but I wasn't sure where. I knew it was 1 of 2 places, either our hotel or the Tech's BnB. Rain played a part in this. What was awesome was our hotel was .9 miles away from finish line and Mirror Lake, Tech's BnB was practically at Finish Line. This gave Britt 2 places to camp out at. Brittney was the real MVP that day. She took care of 3 kids and helped her Mom who got taken to the hospital, broken foot, at the same time. She of course made sure I didn't know that until after the race. Brittney should do a "How to spectate an Ironman" blog.

After 3 miles, there they were! In front of my hotel was my family!! I yelled out to Brittney and my kids and told them I loved them. I am a lucky man to have this support. I remembered I had a little climbing to do before the Keene descent. A short out and back, hit the first aid station. I was rollin! Feeling good! I had read many stories of the people who went way too hard on first bike loop only to get smoked the 2nd loop. I got passed by people. I watched my heart rate. This was a big difference for me from other races; using bike computer instead of watch. 1. It broke me free from having my Overall Time. In Maryland, I'd look at my watch for overall time and beat myself up over how long it was taking me. 2. Instead of watching what mile I was on. I watched heart rate. If I got much over 115, I was to back it off. (yes, I have a low heart rate.) I also didn't want to cook my legs on the bike. We were told to be prepared for over 6k elevation gain on the bike course. Finally hit the descent. I was holding those breaks in a fashion that kept me rolling but under control. Wet road plus winding descent= nervous Matt. People were flying by me. I stayed to the right and made my way down. Good lord man, I was happy to have that portion done. Turned left and had super smooth roads. Watching that heart rate and pedaling nice and smooth. Looked up to see the clouds covering the top of Whiteface Mountain. I was up there yesterday! The area is just gorgeous. Lakes and streams, trees, mountains, I could ride there forever! There is a longer out and back. This part had some rollers but was fun! Good speed and seeing bikes on both sides of the road helps the motivation. Then I see Chris on the side of the road. Changing a tire. I holler out to him and make sure he's ok. He says he's good so I continue. I hate to see this as Chris has prepared for a long time to finally get to race. If there was one guy I knew could fix a flat, Chris is him. Now I had motivation to see how long I could "hold him off". Well friends, it wasn't long! The man can pedal his bike. I hear that familiar voice, "Fucking mechanicals!!" "I'm not letting a flat take me out!" I reply, "Damn son, you got that fixed quick!" We have a short conversation before he takes off. I smile as I know Chris is back in the fight. Then I saw this sign, "CAUTION WIENERS AHEAD!!!" I hadn't been exercising that long for my imagination to be taking over already. Then they appeared! 3 people dressed up as hotdogs. Cheering their condiments off! They had other hot dog related signs and on my 2nd loop, they offered me a hotdog. If I wasn't a celiac, I may have taken them up on it. The end of the loop is an 11 mile climb. People had talked of the Three Bears hills. I showed I was prepared as I just pedaled right up and over those hills. The last hill, Papa Bear, was really fun. People went to this hill and surrounded the riders on both sides with a ton of energy. It was loud!! I've seen this at Tour de France on TV, but to ride through the crowd on both sides was awesome!! 

I make my way back into town and the hunt for my family began. Found them in front of Tech BnB. I stop for a quick second. I tell them my favorite part of the bike course was seeing "3 wieners!" I remember Savvy being really loud asking, "WHAT??!!" I then filled them in that they even had ketchup and mustard as I rode off. I laughed thinking about what were they thinking? My father in law later said he thought I was already loopy. Truth be told, I had more work to do. I made my way to that damn descent. Stayed to the right. People flying by me on the left. People cheering on the side of the road. "Just don't crash Matt" is all I thought. We came here to do all 3, not crash. The winds kept me honest. I got down the descent and was so happy to turn left. Through the gorgeous scenery. Made it back to the long out and back. Remember those people flying by me down the descent?? I started picking them off one by one. I was feeling very good. I'm like over 70 miles into this bike and not even feeling tired. I remember these blurs of speed down the descent as I catch and pass them. Feeds my energy. Feels good. Back to the long climb. Easy does it, keep pedaling easy, NO GRINDING GEARS, I smile as I see people struggling up the hill and I'm just cruising along. I knew I had paced this well. I talked to a few people as we climbed. Asked people how they felt, how did their swim go? Said I was looking forward to Papa Bear crowd! They didn't disappoint. Loud music, cheering, great energy! Back into town and I was feeling great. I felt like my swim and bike had went very well. Off the bike and back to transition I went. Legs were a touch tired but not bad. I thought through my transition before I got to my rack. Tom Petty's "Jammin Me" was on the loud speakers. I racked my bike, changed my shoes, made sure i had my race belt and nutrition. Off to run.

I had orders to keep heart rate low for the first 8 miles. The Ironman marathon has always challenged me. I've experienced cramps in muscles, bouts of diarrhea, and fighting mental demons on the Ironman marathon.Nothing about Ironman is "easy", but I've trained hard to try and make it tolerable. I wanted to average 11 minute miles. I couldn't keep my heart rate low enough to run any further than a quarter mile without stopping to walk to let the heart rate fall back. The opening 2-3 miles were lined with people cheering like crazy! Great energy! I was so stressed over my heart rate, I told people who were looking at me kinda funny, "I'm just keeping my heart rate down." I've identified this as a change for IM Indiana. I wont be stressing over heart rate in opening miles of the run. The good part of watching my heart rate was that my mind wasn't paying attention to the mileage signs. The sun was out and I could tell it was getting warm. I used ice in my Race Saver bag over my head and ice down my shirt and shorts. I found my family again in front of my hotel. I told them I was doing good and that I'd be back soon. The run is a 2 loop course. The course goes to the Horse Show grounds and this where some craziness happened. It was like a maze. Runners going back and forth in the same area around the grounds. There were volunteers directing people but you had to pay attention. If you were coming from town, you went clockwise, if you were coming in from River Rd (I'll get to River Rd, F River RD!, sorry bout that,I have strong feelings about River Rd.) if you were coming in from River Rd, you went counter clockwise. Got that? Imagine swimming 2.4, riding 112 then getting into a rat race where you have people going different directions at different mileage points, first or second loop??, and making sure you are going the right way at the right time. I focused on the volunteer directing traffic and figured it out. Others did not. Others ended up running the wrong way, adding or subtracting to their mileage. Not a great set up, but this was the year we were just thankful to race. 

OK, around the grounds and out to River Rd I went. Did I mention my disgust for River Rd? (Truthfully, I've identified another pre-race mistake here. I should've known how far we ran on River Rd. But it's way funnier to just blame the road). River Rd is clearly 112 miles long and the longer you take to get to the turn around, the further they move it back. Paige said it was 6 miles out to the turn around. She's pretty smart. I think it was closer to 20 miles out because it took me FOREVER to get there! There were a few spectators out there on River Rd but not many. The aid stations were manned with incredible volunteers who gave us what we needed. I tried to keep my running pace going, watching the heart race and ticking off miles. I was back to the rat race maze at horse show grounds and thinking I was close to halfway done with marathon. Just a few miles to see my family, get that crowd energy, do this stupid loop once more and get that finish line! As I'm leaving Horse Show grounds about to ascend a hill, mile 11ish, both shins LOCK up. I mean shooting pain with every step. I couldn't flex my foot without feeling like I'd fall over. Remember that famous quote from early in the morning? "OH SHIT" is correct. It hurts to run. Walking isn't great. I got 15 miles to go. Well Hello there mental demons! Bout time you showed up! Yall are gonna have to go away. I can fight through this. I've seen friends fight through cancer. I've seen friends fight with their kids fighting cancer. I can fight through this. I make it back to my hotel and my family are out. Clearly they left the swimming pool to come out and cheer on their Dad. I tell them I'm feeling great (LIAR!!) to try and make myself believe it (FAIL!) I get to the turn around in town in front of a ton of people! Cheering like crazy! I try to run but my legs are about to give out. I just walk and try to take in the energy from the crowd. I think I get to see my family one more time before I head back to horse show grounds. I'm disappointed that they aren't there when I get back. What I didn't know, was Britt's Mom was hurt and waiting on the paramedic to come get her. She needed my family worse than I did! No problem, I got this. I was able to clearly think through this problem. How do I fix this? How do I make my shins ease up?? If only I could ice them? Wait, Aid stations have ice. Most of us use it to cool ourselves down, but I can pour the ice into my hands and ice my shins!! Like a light bulb in a cartoon going off. I made it back into horse show grounds and found ice. I iced both shins as much as I could. I then remembered Liz Daulton's fight in IM CDA and how grapes were her friend. I decided to get some grapes. I looked at the tables and found Dixie cups with pictures of grapes in them. Perfect! Only to find the cups full of pretzels. Celiacs cant eat those pretzels. What a let down. Shins are hurting, no pretzels, 13 miles to go. Around the maze and off to HELL..sorry, River Rd I go. 

Someone must've thought it would be funny to put a photographer on River Rd. I tried running. Short distances. Like "lets see if we can run to that tree" short distance. It hurt. I'd do it, but it hurt. I walked. 

 

Actual face on River Rd.

Sean, a New York Firefighter walked with me for a few miles. I introduced him to Chris who was on his way in as I was on my way out, so he had to be like 35 miles ahead of me just on the run portion because River Rd is 50 miles long. There was an aid station! I asked if they had anything that might help locked up muscles in my shins. They sprayed some cooling lotion into my shins and calves. It didn't do much but I tried to run some more. Sean went on ahead of me. Right before the turnaround, the aid station said they had chicken broth! Chicken broth by itself may not seem that great but after exercising for 14 hours, chicken broth is the bees knees! Salty, warm, and easy to get down. Yes please! I hit the turn around and a new feeling came over me. I'm about to fall asleep! Or pass out. Not sure which, but this is bad. I got like 6 miles to go and I just want to take a nap. Caffeine!! We need caffeine!!! I start loading up on my caffeine chews. On my final way out of River Rd, I see Paige running towards the turn around. Girl was looking happy and strong. She was killing it. I was jealous.

This is what I'm most sad to report. I'm blaming energy crash, hurting muscles and fighting extreme fatigue. A guy yelled to me, "Great job!" I replied, "Yeah right." in a manner of a depressed loser. Not a smiling lunatic who is happy to be participating, a depressed loser who got a little shitty with a guy trying to help me. He responded, clearly offended, "No really man, you are." I apologized for my response and said I'm just tired and disappointed. I had to look inward and go back to my goals. Just finish the 140.6 was goal 1. I was still doing that. I then saw a lady at the corner of River Rd where I turned off River Rd. I told her I didn't think I was ever going to see this place again. If I never see River Rd again, that'll be ok. Back to horse show grounds where I meet another athlete from Cleveland. We shared a mile or so before he went on ahead. Out of the Horse Show grounds (another place I don't need to see again) and up the hill. I'm slow, I'm walking but I now can hear Mike Reilly calling others an Ironman. That's motivation! 

There are 2 people who look like they just finished dinner and are walking back. I said hello. They said, "keep going! You're doing great!" Thick European accents but speak English well. I tell them I'm hurting pretty bad. They assure me I can make it. I ask them to tell me a joke. This request surprises them. They tell me they aren't sure their joke would be understood in English. "Y'all let me down!" I say and laugh. I just wanted something to take my mind of my legs. The guy says, "Well, Lisa did the race today!" "You did?" I reply, "How did you do?"  She says "Good"  The guy then says, "Well, she won!" Wait, what?? "You did? What was your time?" Lisa Norden then said "Yes, 9:11. I shared the same pain you are experiencing. Our pain is the same here." Did I tell the IM Lake Placid Champion she let me down? Yup. Did the Lake Placid Champ take the time out of her evening to come out and cheer on age groupers? Yup, she did. She asked who was waiting for me at the finish line? My wife and kids I told her. "Well go see them, and enjoy that Finish Line!"

I thanked them for their encouragement and finished that little bit. 

Of course, in Lake Placid, you dont get anywhere without going up hill. I had one more hill to crest before the bright lights and red carpet came into view. I almost couldn't believe it. I was crying. The crowd started to grow. I had made it. Fought the hard fight. Walked 15 miles. Almost passed out. Shins hated me. Told the race winner she let me down. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't what I hoped for. But I covered the distance. 140.6 miles. I found my Beautiful wife and gave her a kiss. Told my kids I loved them. I then walked down the red carpet to cheers and high fives. It was at least 3 people deep on both sides! They were banging the boards, going nuts. Then the coolest thing happened!! Fireworks went off!! I couldn't believe it!! Fireworks!!

I think the fireworks makes me think Placid's finish line just edged out Louisville's finish line. I was handed my Finisher shirt, hat and medal. My girls found me just passed the finish line. I got a bag of ice for my shins. I got my picture taken and grabbed some food. 6 time IM FINISHER. The struggle was real. It took guts. Stubbornness, refusing to quit. GRIT. Icing those shins may have saved me. 

Paige was hot on my heals and finished right behind me. She also started a few minutes after I did. She crushed it. Chris had finished way ahead of me. Chris had a 2nd tire issue he had to persevere through. Every athlete had to fight to cover those 140.6 miles. Some athletes who started, didn't finish. One athlete was kicked in the head in the swim and was out with a concussion. 2 athletes crashed on the descent, collar bone sticking out on the guy, broken arm and concussion for the female athlete. A paramedic had crashed off the side of a road and had to be towed out of the ditch. We made it back to the Tech's BnB where I found out my in-laws were at the hospital. Brittney was exhausted. She had a very hard day trying to tend to her mom, watching 3 kids, trying to track 3 athletes and get to the finish line, Britt needs a spa day. She has a small avulsion fracture now. We walked the .9 miles from BnB to hotel where I was spent. My girls were spent. We weren't sure how my in-laws were getting back to hotel. Medics ended up bringing my in laws back. When we were about to shut off the lights, I explained to Britt why this was my last Ironman. Wrecking my body, suffering for miles, making the family wait for me forever, expensive, 6 finishes is enough. Heidi will tell you I went on for an hour how and why I am done with this craziness. I was going to email Ironman to drop to 70.3 in Muncie. My brain was content that we weren't doing that shit again. I couldn't sleep. Everything hurt. Caffeine flowing through my veins. The next morning I texted Chris. Explained I was done. Dropping to 70.3 in Muncie. My girls and I went out for lunch, I typed up the email. I just couldn't send it....I still have the draft saved.

I decided to give it a day or 2. Let things settle down then send it. When I was clear headed enough to look into results, it appears my swim and bike are on point. I'm not the fastest in my age group, but I'm competitive. I run everyday. Yet, the Ironman marathon remains the bane of my existence. I've seen PRO triathletes have issues with the IM marathon. I've received plenty of messages telling me congrats for killing it. Congrats for another finish. My brain is appreciative for these as it puts it into perspective that people respect the challenge, yet I don't feel I killed it. I feel the marathon practically killed me. I'm just stubborn enough to think, "1 more try. I've already paid for Indiana, All I gotta do is figure out the marathon. Lucky 7! or 7 finishes sounds better than 6. So I'll do Indiana, its the only time this is offered, I'd regret not doing it. I'm not signing up for anymore IM races until after I see how Indiana goes. If I suffer like I did in Placid, I'm taking a long break from IM. Not announcing retirement, but a long break. Brittney says she's heard this before. 

things i think hurt me;

Walking NYC a few days before, like 25-29k steps in new shoes

wind on the bike plus elevation gain= longer on bike than expected, not enough nutrition

stressed heart rate too much on run

too much emphasis on marathon time

allowed myself to walk when i could've ran a little more

Things that helped me:

Consistent daily training

Workouts that pushed me

Never quit attitude

Family and friends support

Gratitude just to get to race