My Ironman Story Part III

The Day I became an Ironman

Part III

The Bike:

The course can be broken up into 1/3s, at least that’s how I mentally approached it. The first 1/3, is a really long stead climb out of town, up Cascade Road (rt73) and through North Elba, after the long climb you turn head to the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Center. You get to ride right up to the building for a turnaround loop and head back out to Cascade Road. I need to add, and it should be no surprise that this bike course is full of spectacular views, which include both the natural sights and you get to also see many of the Olympic locations too! Then, the final section of the first 1/3 of the course is an insane downhill into Keene, by insane I’ve heard of the professional Triathletes hitting mid 50MPH or more on a good day. Its very long, not so much steep but it’s a very wild ride added by crosswinds and slower bikers that you need to contend with. Once at the bottom, I feel this is where 2nd 1/3 kicks in and you go from Keene to Upper Jay and then Jay. This section is mostly flat, and you can really get moving and keep up a good pace and flow, it ends however when you make a left turn to a straight up short hill and it’s a brutal solid 5-10minute climb. You then end up doing an out and back section that is a little hilly but not bad and its enough where on your way back you can move well since it is slightly downhill. Once you complete this out and back, this is where the loop and hurt starts and the final 1/3 of the loop. This is from Wilmington back to Lake Placid and I know I left a piece of me there…. It’s a brutal 20ish miles of just hill after hill and there is no place to coast or stop pedaling you just HAVE TO KEEP PEDALING. This why I put a reminder on my water bottle that I can see the whole time that says, “keeping Fucking pedaling”. To add to it, there is always a head wind, and mentally you get to the start of this “home stretch” at around mile 35 thinking you’re more than halfway for you to only realize that, hat 20 mile stretch will take you longer than the first 35 miles did…wild. Oh, plus there are 3 hills just at the end nicknamed the “3 Bears”, I’m a bit fuzzy on the order but I think it goes Mama, Pappa and then Baby-but I probably wiped the memory from my brain.

As I get on the bike, my family and friends are right there I can see and hear them. Again, doing good with taking in the sights and sounds of the day. As you start your ride, you go through town a bit and make your way out onto the course for the first 56-mile loop. It’s the long climb to start, I’m settled in keeping a high cadence and staying in the moment. Watching my power meter, which is vital to stay within certain numbers, so I am using the right amount of energy. I get to the top and begin the out and back towards the Bobsled Center, here is where I can finally build up some avg speed. Once the out and back are done, I head towards the giant downhill going into Keene. Here is where I need to explain, I have my avg. speed on my bike computer. It’s there because I have a number I need to stay above; I was heavily concerned with the bike course cut off. 13.2 MPH would be my lowest to had completed the bike course in 8.5hrs. Now that I gave myself more time after my swim, my time could dip lower but keeping that buffer for the run would also be very helpful. We went to Lake Placid for a mini-training camp a few weeks prior and we rode 1 loop of the course, which only added to the stress of doing it on time because I was wrecked after 1 loop. Anyways, during that camp I did Keene and used my brakes a bunch now really knowing what to expect plus we had some crosswinds would only adds to the scaries. I knew that the more speed I could get down that hill and carry that avg into Jay and Upper Jay before the hills started back up would be critical. So, when I started that downhill decent I goy myself so fired up, screamed some obscenities at myself and let it rip. I wound up hitting 47.5 MPH and got my avg speed way up! I was so confident after; I was dead set on breaking 50MPH my next loop. I again was riding a high and moved through Jay and Upper Jay extremely well and was able to hold my avg quite well. I climb that awful hill comfortably but still with some urgency, do the out and back to then get into Wilmington and start my “return home”. The head wind was light but very present, it slowly started crushing both my energy and mental state. I got to the 2 bears and slugged my way over those. At the top of the final Bear, it’s a right turn to get to town but you must go straight first for a down and back then you turn left to get into town. At the top of that 3rd bear it was like the tour de France with all the spectators and of course, full on Team Maddie screaming and cheering. Always made me smile and filled me full of energy and hope! Down at the out and back, there were so many spectators and where my family and friends where. It wasn’t easy trying to see them and turn around, but man was it a hit of adrenaline! I make my way back up to that left turn, which surprise is just another hill to tackle you then descend back into the town of Lake Placid, turning onto Mirror Lake Rd and riding around the lake to the special needs bag area. At this point, despite all the fanfare I hit my lowest point of the entire day. It just started to get warm, I felt it took all of my to get that first loop done and I was low on energy wondering how in the hell I was going to do that again and in the time I needed. The good news was, I did the first loop in 4hrs so I was in good shape but still, the climbs and hills were no joke and I knew my energy was only going to diminish. At the special needs stop, the volunteers help grab bags as your bib# is on them. I was very fortunate to have had a Team Maddie spectator/volunteer Michelle who already had my bag ready and help hold my bike up and held the bag open while I dug through it. I grabbed more nutrition, but ended up forgetting to grab more chamois cream as my under side was starting to get angry so that was unfortunate. It was nice to have a familiar person help, it was another perfect timed event for the day (one of many that would happen) She gave me some positive vibes and comments and off I went.

The halfway point-this was the lowest I felt all day. The heat was cranking up and I could feel it and all I had in my head was how am I going to do another loop....

As I start the second loop, low energy and mood but I knew I had work to do so I stayed in the moment and just kept telling myself I have lots of time banked. I remember seeing the sign on the first loop that told me when I needed to be at or past it to keep going and the math was telling me I didn’t need to smash myself to get to get back there. Telling myself that over and over, probably so many times as I turned the pedals. I can feel the day heating up, it was getting hot and humid, a recipe both for loss of energy and cramping. As I get towards the turn to get into the bobsled center out and back, I can see a massive storm rolling in. Welcome to the Adirondacks, where the weather forecast is only good for 5 minutes. It starts to rain as I enter the out and back, it gets darker out and raining harder which then turns into the heaviest of downpours, the type of downpour that if you’re driving you pull over because you can’t see and here I was with hundreds of other people out on a bike. While it was the most unpleasant time on a bike, it couldn’t have come at a better time as it took away all the thoughts I was having before. Now, my focus was how miserable I was in the rain instead how my body felt. The heavy rain kept up as I approached that massive downhill that I had planned to go for 50mph on, which now my plan was to just not die. Rain and bike brakes do not mix, but not mix I mean I had pretty much no brakes. So as I descended, all I could do was hold the brakes down so that if I had to actually brake for something I was as prepared as I could be for it, but they barely slowed me down. By the time I got to the bottom in Keene, the rain was all but done and left some of its coolness behind. Unfortunately, I wasn’t smart enough to zip up my snack bag so it was a puddle of dissolved salt tabs and gooey chews: for the rest of my bike ride, I would end up scooping my nutrition out hoping not to spill any of the mess, makes me sick thinking about it now. In addition, I can feel the water still sloshing around in my bike shoes, but hey I was soaked and no more saddle soreness! I actually was feeling good at this point, I was able to really roll through Jay and Upper Jay very well. I kept pushing, kept looking at the time and down the math over and over again. Once I made it back to that cut off sign, It was at least 90mins before the time so I was in fantastic shape. Enough where I didn’t need to push on that final awful stretch or through the 3 Bears, the goal now was to save all the energy for the run. As I got back into town, turned onto Mirror Lake Drive, the timing of what happened next is still probably the wildest of the day. The bike route and run route are shared here, so there is lots of activity from bikers, runners and spectators. To my amazing surprise I see Kat running, working to finish her 1st run loop. She put a huge smile on her face and as we past each other, me telling her great job and her telling me “I’m so proud of you”.

I knew then I had it and it was just my day to be had! Bike complete:8hrs:13mins: 57secs

 Transition 2: Bike to Run

Never have I ever been so happy to be off that bike, thankfully they have volunteers that will take your bike at the finish vs you having to re-rack your bikes. As I get off the bike, I walk to my run bag and go into the changing tent. Happy I packed multiple pars of everything, I caked my feet with body glide, put on new dry socks and run shoes. Grab my hat, sunglasses, re-applied lotion, put on my race belt/bib and walked out. As I walked out to lots of Team Maddie cheers and claps, got me fired up to get this run going. It was wild to think that it was approaching 5pm and I still had a Marathon to go. 

Check back next week for the final of my story!