T+2 Ironman USA Lake Placid Race Report

I hope you are sitting comfortably as this is an Ironman Race Report and for anyone who has seen how long my sprint reports are you know this is going to be very, very long.

I will start where I left off with my T-1 post. The night before the race I was feeling pretty calm but to keep my mind occupied and off the race I went to bed early, at about 8pm, and watched a DVD on my laptop. At about 9:30pm I started to feel sleepy so shut the computer down and tried to get to sleep. As soon as I closed my eyes I started to think about the race. The more I tried to stop thinking about it the more I did. It took me a long time to fall asleep and probably fell asleep about 11pm.

14 hours of this :-)

I awoke to my alarm clock at 3:30am and felt a little bit tired. After a breakfast of "Ironman Oatmeal", very similar to regular oatmeal but just a little bit more expensive, we met up with Mary Lou and drove a few minutes down the road to one of the park and ride pickups. We were straight onto a bus and dropped just up the road from the Olympic Oval at about 5:20am. There were lots of body markers and I was quickly written on before I made my way to my bike and transition bags. All that was left to do at this stage was pump up my tyres, put nutrition on my bike, and in my transition bags, and drop off my special needs bags a mile up the road.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - Mmmmm tasty

With my pre race jobs accomplished I joined the queue for the porta potty and tried to make sure I was not carrying any excess weight on the course. Before I knew it I was in my wetsuit and making my way to the swim start. There were so many athletes that it took a while to work my way to the corral that shepherded you through the entry gate and over the timing mat.

Swim 1:12:00 (Division place 140/238; Overall Place 991/2345; 1:54 per 100m)

I had read several race reports and was not looking forward to getting battered in the swim. I couldn't decide where to put myself. Many people want to keep left and follow the buoy cable that marks the course but this means that the buoy line is a battlefield. Others go way right of the course in order to avoid the melee. I decided to put myself somewhere in the middle of the two and few bodies back from the front. As I waited for the canon I couldn't help but be impressed by the scene. The banks of mirror lake where packed with spectators all screaming their support and there was a helicopter hovering over the water filming the action, it was a very impressive sight.

Time went quickly and before long the canon sounded and we were off. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did not get immediately run over and actually had a reasonable amount of room. I think many of the slower swimmers had kept way back to avoid the scrum and the faster guys were sprinting to get away from the crush. I found a rhythm and started to settle into the 2.4 mile swim.

As I was telling myself how nice it was to have some room I started to get jostled. About a 1/3rd of the way out on the first loop swimmers were coming together and I started to get battered as people tried to migrate toward the buoy line. After a few minutes I stuck my head up and decided that this was not going to get any better unless I did something and repositioned myself toward the right hand edge of the group. I again settled down until we came to the turn around when everyone came together again. A bit more fighting and I was on the way back toward the start line. Every so often I would manage to get on someones heels and draft for a little bit. The first loop was pretty uneventful, I did feel a bit tired in my upper body and can't say that I was looking forward to the second lap, fully aware as I was that this was the farthest I had ever swum.

I got out of the water and looked at my watch which read 34 minutes and change so I was on track for my sub 1:10 hour swim. I ran across the beach and could hear the crowds cheering, it was then straight back into the water where I had to talk myself into getting my arms going again. A lot of people talk about the water flow created by so many swimmers swimming in the same direction but the only time I noticed it was when I got back into the water and went around the corner of the pontoon which was used by the race starter. There was such a strong flow that I was literally whipped around the corner and back out onto the second loop. Unfortunately this sensation was very short lived and I was back under my own steam.


The second loop I settled down into a steady swim, similar to how I would swim in the pool during training. I was very relaxed and started to breath every third stroke rather than every second stroke as I had on the first lap. The entire loop was pretty uneventful. My arms were a little tired but overall I felt good. I did notice as I started the second loop that it had started to rain and I assumed we were having one of the passing showers that had been predicted and hoped that it would not leave the bike course too wet.

I tried to keep my pace up as I tired and a couple of times I was able to again get on the heels of stronger swimmers for a few hundred yards. Making the turn around for the second time was a big morale booster and little by little the shore got closer. I was out of the water and looked at my watch "1:12". I was still on track for my A Race Goal of as close to 10 hours as possible. In my dream race this would break down to 1:10 swim, 5:30 bike and 3:20 run and then take a few minutes off the bike and run to allow for transition. My B Race Goal was very generous and that was to finish before the cut off at 17 hours. Two very different goal times but to be honest the only two things that mattered to me were to qualify for the World Champs and if I couldn't I needed to make sure that I became an Ironman.

T1 5:38

There was quite a long run from the swim to the transition area and the shower that I had noticed during the swim was still going and there were streams of water running down the road. There was a 10 foot wide fenced off coral that marshaled the athletes through the crowds from the lake to the oval. There was a 3 foot wide carpet to save your feet but I decided that I wanted to run so I left the carpet and started to overtake people as I ran on the tarmac. I grabbed my swim to bike transition bag and found that people were already getting changed outside of the tent.

I only needed to put on my helmet, bike shoes and race number so I too decided to change outside of the tent. I had some arm warmers and a cycling vest inside my bag but made a quick decision that the rain would probably stop soon and it shouldn't be too cold at this time of year so I left them where they were. As I went through the tent it was like a Turkish steam bath. There was no light and masses of steam rising from the hundreds of wet athletes crowded into the tent. I couldn't see a thing and I was very glad to have changed outside. As I ran to get my bike I noticed how muddy the grass had become and how dark the skies were, oh well so much for a nice day but the day was still young and there was plenty of time for the weather to improve.

Bike 5:49:22 (Division place 71/238; Overall Place 392/2345; 19.2mph)

The bike is my strongest event but I figured that for any hope of qualifying I would need to do a sub 5:30 ride which equates to an average speed of 21 mph, over 112 miles and in the Adirondack Mountains, please note they are not called the Adirondack Hills. I knew this was going to be a monumental task but I had made a conscious effort to keep focusing on how I was going to achieve the task rather than how impossible it may appear, in order to help me get through the last nine months of build up.

So feeling pretty good I left the oval and we were immediately faced with a very steep downhill that ended in a 90 degree turn. It was raining so hard that you had to ride your brakes all the way down the hill or you risked crashing within a stone's throw of the bike start (I heard that one of the pros did crash out of the race here).

Some of the amazing supporters who braved the weather

I successfully negotiated the turn and started to head toward the edge of town. Before 2 minutes had passed I heard a bang and realised that my rear wheel had a blow out. I had new tyres on the bike and had ridden the tyres and tubes for 2 decent rides so I have no idea why I suddenly had a tyre burst, there really is no obvious explanation. There I was perhaps 3 minutes into my ride, still only a couple of miles into a 112 bike leg having to change the tyre. The rain was pouring down and I had to take my helmet off to see. I was surprised how calm I felt but with deep wheels, valve extenders and terrible conditions it still took me 5 minutes to change the tyre. I also had to stop a couple of times after I changed it as it sounded as if wheel was rubbing, so all in all I probably lost about 8 minutes or so.

I stuffed my tyre levers and the burst tyre in my pockets and set off again. The course started with a 10 mile climb that took us from 1777ft to about 2220ft. This first climb I started to catch back up with some of the riders who passed me while I changed my flat and allowed my heart rate to get up into the 160s while I climbed. At the end of the climb out of Lake Placid we came upon perhaps the most memorable part of the course which was the descent into Keene. We descended 1200 feet in 4 miles which is a very steep descent. I topped out at 47.4mph and I was flying passed some of the other riders. I must admit I was a little bit apprehensive during the descent, no that is far too reserved, I was scared. The road was soaking wet, the wind was blowing and I had just had a blow out a few miles back and a bike crash 2 weeks ago. I looked at the metal railings marking the edge of the road and tried not to think what would happen if I hit them at over 47 miles an hour.

After the descent there was a level stretch that took us to the next town of Jay and it was at this stage that I lost both tyre levers out of my pocket, if I flatted again I was going to struggle. At Jay we turned hard left and there was another big climb before a six mile plus out and back from Wilmington and then the last 12 miles back to Lake Placid which ended in a series of short sharp climbs. Despite the relentless rain which just got heavier and heavier I was feeling pretty good. I finished the first loop a little slower than the 2:45 or better split I wanted but put a lot of that down to the flat.

At special needs the volunteer helped me swap out my water bottles and I ate a banana and grabbed a flapjack for later. Going through town was great but as I went back around the outside of the oval there were streams of water pouring across the road making things very trecherous. My nutrition plan was to drink 3 bottles of Gatorade endurance per lap with a couple of scoops of carb supplement in each bottle. I would supplement the fluid with gel, or other food, as I felt necessary and this seemed to work OK for me. The only slight problem was that with it being so cold it was easy to avoid drinking as you didn't feel thirsty.

As I set out on the second loop I still felt good but by now the rain was getting pretty tiresome. Just before the descent into Keene I thought I saw a green Team Z jersey off in the distance but it would be another 15 miles or so before I would catch up with Sebastian from my Tri Team. On the climb out of Jay I caught up with Elizabeth, another Cadence Kona Challenger who went on to have a great run and secure herself a slot at Kona.

The out and back from Wilmington went well again but by now I was starting to feel stiff in my lower back and neck and I had some cramp twinges in my leg. After Wilmington comes the long climb back to Lake Placid which has a number of steep hills to contend with and ends with Papa Bear which was lined with spectators. By now my back and neck hurt and my legs were getting very heavy with some cramp in my right hamstring. Luckily I was able to get out of my saddle and just about power over the climbs and it was hear that I passed my other Team Z teammate Chris Wren who was well on track to securing his slot at Kona in the 60-64 age group.

T2 3:59

Back at the Olympic oval I handed off my bike and grabbed my run gear bag. This time I did go into the tent as it was a lot, lot quieter and I was able to sit down. I didn't rush and took the time to dry my feet and apply some grease to the bottom of my feet before I put on my socks. I put on my newly purchased Ironman run cap and headed out of the door. Just before I left the tent I was overtaken by Chris who had obviously had a very quick transition and we headed out together.

Run 4:43:06 (Division place 143/238; Overall Place 1081/2345; 10:49min/mile)

Within a few hundred yards I started to cramp in my right leg and had to stop and stretch. I also took the time to stop and take a salt tablet. At this stage I was passed by Sebastian who must have finished the end of his bike ride strongly and was now putting in a good run. I wanted to stay with the two of them but I soon realised that I just didn't have the legs for it. After a couple of miles I knew I would not be able to hold a quick enough pace to get anywhere near my A Goal and with surprisingly little difficulty I made the decision to back of completely and run/walk the marathon.

It was an amazingly liberating feeling and came with two distinct benefits. Firstly I managed to keep any discomfort in my groin down to the bare minimum and even though there was a little bit of new swelling in the area after the race I feel surprisingly well. Secondly I had the opportunity to chat with some of my teammates and interact with some of the amazing volunteers who manned the aid stations. I saw Chris and Sebastian after the various turnarounds and they were both going well. Chris had a great race and won his age group with ease and earned himself a very much deserved slot in Kona. I also saw a couple of other Cadence athletes and of course Mary Lou who despite being nervous about the race had put in a great swim and bike and was now well on her way to becoming an Ironman. A couple of times on the run Dianna came springing up alongside me and gave me some welcome encouragement. Dianna is a Cadence Coach and apart from being an endurance event junkie and very gifted triathlete she is also the lady who looked after my wave at the Cadence Kona Challenge selection weekend way back in November last year - seeing her gave the whole Cadence experience a nice twist as I had not seen her since the selection weekend. Also out on the course was Lisa another Cadence coach who was officiating and gave me a lovely huge cheer as she went past. It was a great atmosphere and despite the rain I really started to enjoy (when I use terms like this I mean them in the context of doing an Ironman - everything is of course relative, this is not the same sort of enjoyment as say sitting in a hot tub) the whole experience.

Just before the half way point I came back into town and the crowds were amazing. I went past the Team Z tent but Wendy was not there as she was changing Ben. I carried on to the special needs bags where I changed into dry socks and although it only lasted 30 seconds I had dry feet for the first time all day and it felt great. I headed back into town and Wendy and Ben were back. I gave them both a kiss and assured Wendy that I was feeling fine and headed back out for my second loop of the run. The second loop was very similar to the first it was wet and long and I continued to run/walk it. At one stage I used a porta potty but it was on the side of the road and at such an angle that I was worried that it would topple over and I could not think of a worse way to end your race. I did do some quick arithmetic and decided that I should finish in under 12 hours without doing anything too drastic.

Ben wrapped up against the elements

When I ran I actually ran pretty smoothly and with good form but after a few hundred yards it would start to hurt and I would walk again. This went on for another couple of hours and then I was on my way back up the very steep hill back into town. I knew that I only had a mile or so to go and then I would be an Ironman. I started to smile to myself and prepare myself for the finish. Luckily the run back into the oval is down hill and I carried the momentum into the oval where the crowds were fantastic. As I approached the line the guy in front was showboating and doing a speed skating impression. I slowed down to let him finish and then it was my turn to cross the line and for the first time ever at a race I couldn't resist the urge to put my hands in the air.

My M Dot Tattoo (don't worry Mum its fake)

Before I go into my conclusion I wanted to just do some quick thank yous:

• Thanks to Cadence for organising the Kona Challenge without which I would not now be an Ironman.

• Thanks to all the sponsors of the Challenge. I have nothing but praise for the all the Cyfac, Zipp, Sidi, LAS and Zoot equipment and the Enervit nutrition (N.B. The LAS low visibility visor works really well but you like to think about putting wipers on your helmets).

• Thanks to Triathlon Magazine for covering the story and a big thanks to NA Sports for allowing me a slot to race (thanks Heather for sorting out registration and thanks to the guy that helped Mary Lou and me get registered when we arrived).

• Thank you to anyone that has taken the time to read or comment on my blog as it has really helped me stay focused knowing that people are reading this stuff.

• Thank you to the two young lads who had been tasked to hand out wet sponges. The idea of taking a wet sponge having been rained on constantly for 7 or more hours was very funny but yet you were both so earnest.

• Thank you to the army of volunteers at Lake Placid. You were all, without exception, wonderful people and your help and infectious enthusiasm on race day was invaluable.

• Thanks to the crowds who braved horrendous weather to support the athletes and perhaps the loudest support came from the legion of Team Z supporters that had made the long haul to Lake Placid just to cheer us on - very generous.

• Thanks to the Team Z cameramen who exposed themselves and their expensive equipment so that we could have some memories of the day.

• Thanks to Dianna and Lisa and the guys in rediculously small cutoff jeans shorts whose encouragement was very much appreciated and thanks to Tara for giving me a shout out on the run (she went on to finish an amazing 28th in her age group).

• Thank you to Mary Lou for the pleasure of her company before and after the race and for the very thoughtful gifts you gave us.

• Thanks to Holden whose coaching has been exemplary and whose positive and relaxed demenour is ideal when it comes to placating and dealing with over anxious A type personality triathletes.

• Thank you to family, friends and colleagues who have offered such kind messages of support.

• Thanks to Wendy who spent an entire day huddled under a tent trying to look after a two and a half month old baby just so that I could indulge my own selfish quest to become an Ironman.

• Thank you to my son, Ben, whose extremely easy going nature (don't know where he gets it from) made it possible for Wendy to spend the entire day under a tent while I indulged my own selfish quest etc.

• If I have missed anyone I apoligise.

Overall 11:54:03 (Division place 110/238; Overall Place 692/2345)
I don't know where to start. I am very sattisfied with the result. I achieved my B Goal, I am an Ironman and I always will be. Despite walking a lot of the Marathon I finished sub 12 hours and before the Cadence Kona Challenge this would have been a dream time for me. I had an opportunity to do something that not many people get to do and thanks to some great conditioning by my coach I managed to do it in relative comfort and could enjoy (as far as that is possible) the run portion and soak up the atmosphere. When I look back to my first half ironman, Black Bear last year, the result seems even more amazing. I ran the entire half marathon at Black Bear but the whole thing took me over 6 hours whereas at Ironman USA I went under 12 hours with a lot of walking.

However, I did not make my A Goal. I was a long way off qualifying. Even if I had run the entire marathon I do not think I would have finished too much under 11 hours and the last!!!! qualifying slot in my age group went to a guy who finished in 9:57. Could I do it one day, maybe, but then you get into the vicous circle of "well if I hadn't flatted I could have gone sub ......", "If the weather was more ... I could have ....", If I hadn't of crashed maybe I could have ....." etc., etc., etc.

Being entirely objective my swim was only 2 mins off the 1:10 I had allowed myself, My bike leg would have been about 5:40 if I hadn't of flatted and I took just under 10 minutes in transition therefore for a 10 hour finish I needed a 3 hour marathon. I honestly believe I have the base fitness to run around a 3:20 marathon but 1. After the ride I didn't have the legs for it and 2. I always seem to struggle getting into the run despite a number of brick workouts. It may be that I am leaving way too much on the bike course to ever run a decent time but then if your A goal is to try and go 10 hours, or close to 10 as possible, you cannot afford to go 6 hours on the bike unless you are a world class runner.

Did my injury affect my time? The pain in my groin is getting steadily worse after the race and it feels like I have been punched where the centre of the bruising was so I am glad that I did take it so easy on the run. However, I was not in pain at the start of the run so I cannot blame my inability to run fast on the injury. Wendy did point out that 8 days before the race I couldn't walk properly and I must admit that at 2 days before the race I sneezed and felt so much discomfort that I started to doubt my ability to finish. So although I couldn't have qualified even if I hadn't of crashed I am very thankful that I was still able to finish the race.

What next? I did not enjoy the Ironman. I did not get the same sense of fun and enjoyment that I do at shorter Olympic distance races. It is a sufferfest from start to finish. It is survival of the fittest, it is conditioning, it is mind over matter but it is not fun. It is however a phenominally rewarding experience. If you know, or can imagine, the enormous sense of achievment in completing a marathon you can multiply that sensation for completing each of the other two disciplines and then multiply that feeling by a factor of 10. Crossing the line hearing the words "[insert your name here] you are an Ironman" is a high that would be very difficult to recreate.

But once you have experienced that high would another Ironman be as rewarding? I was adamant that I would not keep doing Ironman races and I am still stunned by some of the people who keep putting themselves through it. To see some of the brave individuals who are bent over double, trying not to collapse or fall over, so that they can make it to the finish line in the cold and the dark before the cutoff, whilst wearing a t-shirt which declares they have done this s@#t before and know what to expect is bind boggling. That being said I now find myself in a quandry. I have paid for, and I am registered for, Ironman Uk. I cannot get a refund. I know I don't stand a hope in hell of qualifying as the times there are even tougher than Ironman USA but I am still considering it. I do know what to expect and it would give me another opportunity to see whether I can put in a decent run. It would also give me an opportunity to get family and friends to experience the day and more importantly Wendy might actually see me race rather than been stuck trying to protect Ben from the weather. Perhaps the biggest factor is that I can do it without dedicating another 9 months of my life to Ironman training as the race is only a month and a bit away. That being said I know that I will never experience the same sensations as when I first heard the words "James Pearson you are an Ironman".