Ironman Lake Placid have always been special race in my racing calendar, every race I do race with same emotions, with the inspiration of my parents who worked hard to be where I am today, this year little more than that, three weeks before the race lost a pet Beagle for cancer, his pain was real for eight months but suffered quietly, I raced with his thoughts carrying his collar. Therefore would like to devote this race to him.
Training:
This year training started bit slowly due to changes at work. Base season(Winter) sacrificed some volume with Bike and Run but intensity remained the same. Swim Volume and speed training remained same if not more compare to last year. As the season picked up (Spring), started adding more volume on bike and run, but it was still low compare to last year, mostly eliminated junk miles.
Base Training averaged: 11 - 14hrs/week
Peak Training averaged: 17 - 19hrs/week
Prep Race:
Rev3 Quassy 70.3 was my prep race for Ironman Lake Placid, I use this race to do short peak training, and test my pacing skills, work on Nutrition. This race went well compare to last year, was 10th Over all, 3rd in Age Group.
Race Week: Week of July 16th
One of the worst race weeks I ever had in last 5 years. Mentally tapering is hard, but this year tapering with sickness made it worst. Long story short, ten days before race on training I encountered Acid reflux causing chest tightness and breathing issue, since than stomach was not processing solid food well on bike, swimming hard intervals was tough felt like running out of breath.
I gained confidence two days before the race when I did swim openers, with 30secs surges which felt okay, but not 100%, fair enough to race at tempo.
Pre-Race Lunch and Dinner:
This race I really hogged food, typically I don't eat a lot, but this year I was loosing weight and strength in race week, I felt week, so I ate a lot.
Lunch: Salmon Burger Sandwitch, huge about 500Kcal.
Lunch Snack: Yogurt, Banana and Maple Sryup.
Dinner: Pasta with Salmon, no Sauce.
1hour before bed: Recovery protein shake.
Race Day:
3:20Am wake up alaram.
Breakfast before 4:00Am: Oatmeal, Maple Syrup and Banana, no Nut butter for a change, had to avoid due Acid Reflux.
4:55Am: Walk towards Transistion, setup Bike, Hydration and inflate tires.
Finished all prerace routines, and walk toward swim start.
Swim: 1:08:xx PR by 2Mins
Its a two loop swim course in Mirror Lake, Lake Placid. IMLP swim is one of the best IM swim, like a giant pool with cable running for 1.2Mile, where no often sighting required. Most certainly beginners friendly swim course.
Swim is a rolling start, you judge your finishing time and stand in that wave.
First Loop: I started close to 1:00hr swim group, On my Garmin, I set an alert for every 15mins to get an idea where I am on swim course, based on that I may add some extra push or stay in current tempo. My first 15minutes went well, close to completing the first loop at 32mins, but that did not go as planned, following Cable line made me to run directly into Kayaks at Turn Bouy's pausing briefly, Turn Bouys are also hard, it was crowded and many were fighting for cable line. After passing turn bouy everything went smooth, came out loop1 at 33:00Mins.
Second Loop: Second loop was worst compare to first loop, was very crowded and too much traffic, It was battle to pass them, many times I was running into Sighting Bouys which were directly on Cable line, ended up doing 35Mins, 2 minutes slower than first loop.
Managed to PR by 2mins from last year, I was expecting 1:05 or 1;06 based on training, but races are unpredictable. Best part was I did not feel Acid Reflux.
Bike: 5:15:xx PR by 9Mins
Bike strength certainly improved from last year, Winter training and steady state effort was one of the key reason. Two weeks before the race, adding Race effort at 75%FTP increased that confidence.
First loop: First 10miles to 15miles have some climbs, but they were not as bad as I trained this year. In race I did not feel great riding these hills, part of it I might have under estimated LP course or not being able to travel into Mountains in peak weeks training may be some of the some the reasons I felt tough. Added to that I had some breathing hard as well.
So first loop completed in 2:30:xx.
Second Loop: After first loop, I was thinking that even if I am late by 8Mins, I could complete course in 5:08:xx, nothing goes as planned. Lake Placid course picks up Winds late in the afternoon, I could experience it at Keene descent which is at 60 - 70miles, it was not as bad as last year, I had disc wheel, I was not blown away.
Miles 70 - 90mile, I was holding steady power, exactly where it should be, but power was slowly fading, neck was getting stiff. I made a mistakes in my nutrition as well, not diluting enough (hypertonic) as i had to carry only two bottles in second loop, I made it bit concentrated assuming I can drink water at aid stations, but it was too late, feeling bit nausea. I paid a price for it starting 90Mile to 104 they were rolling hills, i did not have power, 90%effort to push on these hills, couple of people I passed before, passed me quickly on these hills.
At Aid station I diluted my nutrition and took some Caffeine gel as well and tried my best to push to T2. Managed to make it to T2 in 5:14:xx, but I had incident on fly dismount, landed safe but I was really moving fast, slipped and dropped my bike.
Nutrition: 1200Kcal of Carbohydrates along with Home made pancake.
Pros: Bike Strength certainly showed this year, but not as good as I did in training, Avg bike Power was 73%FTP, NP was 77%FTP Compare to 70% Avg power and 74%NP last year.
Keene descent was one of the best this year, I felt safe, helped a lot to have very few athletes on course and descend quickly.
Cons: Nutrition did not go as planned. And Have to adjust cockpit bit more to let my neck drop and relax.
Run:3:09:xx, no PR
I had good training this year, every long run was high intensity, I gained significant confidence on 20Miles long run I did two weeks before the race. So I set too much expectations going into this IMLP run, goal was high or beat old 3:09:xx effort.
First Loop: First one hour went well, pace was right there where it should be 6:55 to 7:05/mile Average. Coming into down town, I could feel some head wind and hills made it hard, so I was holding back my pace, managed to complete first loop around 1:32:xx.
Second Loop: Second loop pace was slowly slipping, not much shade on course, I could feel heat as well, upto 19Miles flat course felt okay managing 7:15/mile average, last 7 miles were painful, six miles were all are rolling hills, at Mile 22, after a climb I cramped really bad, I dropped my pace and stopped briefly for 10secs. Last mile was down hill, I saw one of my AG nice to pass him, I did not know I was in 4th until I passed one more 35-39 AG in last two hundred meters to the finish. It was really a close race.
Nutrition: Coke, Water every aid station, three GU Gels which is New in my run, not sure I will do this again.
Cons: No more GU gels, Coke alone should work better.
In Summary:
Swim: 51st in Age Group(AG), 356th fastest Over All(OA)
Bike: 5th in AG, 41st fastest OA
Run: 3rd in AG, 16th fastest OA
AG Awards and Kona qualification:
Glad to be 3rd in Age Group, wish it was better :-), always next time. There were three Kona Slots, I took last slot, because I really want to race Kona for bike course where I did not give all last year. I am glad to go back and race again.
Next Up:
Pumpkinman 70.3 on Sept 10th
World Championship Kona: Oct 14th.
Why Kona?
Kona been always special race since I started Ironman, Representing India makes it even more special, it has more meaning for me than anyone knows. And more over I always want to earn my spot, it makes me more proud and people around me as well.
This race will be dedicated to all those who paved a path for me to be where I am today.
To name a few, my biggest inspiration, my parents who were hard labors, thought me alot in life to over come pain during training, racing or every day life. Nothing else makes me stronger than those life I spent in India for 27 years. This race will be dedicated to them.
My Teachers and Professors who thought I have talent and offered support through scholarship, this race represents them.
And Last but not least many of my friends and their family who still work hard and support directly/indirectly, its all for them.
That's all I would like to say.
Thanks for reading. Good Luck in racing and training.
Subbu
Training:
This year training started bit slowly due to changes at work. Base season(Winter) sacrificed some volume with Bike and Run but intensity remained the same. Swim Volume and speed training remained same if not more compare to last year. As the season picked up (Spring), started adding more volume on bike and run, but it was still low compare to last year, mostly eliminated junk miles.
Base Training averaged: 11 - 14hrs/week
Peak Training averaged: 17 - 19hrs/week
Prep Race:
Rev3 Quassy 70.3 was my prep race for Ironman Lake Placid, I use this race to do short peak training, and test my pacing skills, work on Nutrition. This race went well compare to last year, was 10th Over all, 3rd in Age Group.
Race Week: Week of July 16th
One of the worst race weeks I ever had in last 5 years. Mentally tapering is hard, but this year tapering with sickness made it worst. Long story short, ten days before race on training I encountered Acid reflux causing chest tightness and breathing issue, since than stomach was not processing solid food well on bike, swimming hard intervals was tough felt like running out of breath.
I gained confidence two days before the race when I did swim openers, with 30secs surges which felt okay, but not 100%, fair enough to race at tempo.
Pre-Race Lunch and Dinner:
This race I really hogged food, typically I don't eat a lot, but this year I was loosing weight and strength in race week, I felt week, so I ate a lot.
Lunch: Salmon Burger Sandwitch, huge about 500Kcal.
Lunch Snack: Yogurt, Banana and Maple Sryup.
Dinner: Pasta with Salmon, no Sauce.
1hour before bed: Recovery protein shake.
Race Day:
3:20Am wake up alaram.
Breakfast before 4:00Am: Oatmeal, Maple Syrup and Banana, no Nut butter for a change, had to avoid due Acid Reflux.
4:55Am: Walk towards Transistion, setup Bike, Hydration and inflate tires.
Finished all prerace routines, and walk toward swim start.
Swim: 1:08:xx PR by 2Mins
Its a two loop swim course in Mirror Lake, Lake Placid. IMLP swim is one of the best IM swim, like a giant pool with cable running for 1.2Mile, where no often sighting required. Most certainly beginners friendly swim course.
Swim is a rolling start, you judge your finishing time and stand in that wave.
First Loop: I started close to 1:00hr swim group, On my Garmin, I set an alert for every 15mins to get an idea where I am on swim course, based on that I may add some extra push or stay in current tempo. My first 15minutes went well, close to completing the first loop at 32mins, but that did not go as planned, following Cable line made me to run directly into Kayaks at Turn Bouy's pausing briefly, Turn Bouys are also hard, it was crowded and many were fighting for cable line. After passing turn bouy everything went smooth, came out loop1 at 33:00Mins.
Second Loop: Second loop was worst compare to first loop, was very crowded and too much traffic, It was battle to pass them, many times I was running into Sighting Bouys which were directly on Cable line, ended up doing 35Mins, 2 minutes slower than first loop.
Managed to PR by 2mins from last year, I was expecting 1:05 or 1;06 based on training, but races are unpredictable. Best part was I did not feel Acid Reflux.
Bike: 5:15:xx PR by 9Mins
Bike strength certainly improved from last year, Winter training and steady state effort was one of the key reason. Two weeks before the race, adding Race effort at 75%FTP increased that confidence.
First loop: First 10miles to 15miles have some climbs, but they were not as bad as I trained this year. In race I did not feel great riding these hills, part of it I might have under estimated LP course or not being able to travel into Mountains in peak weeks training may be some of the some the reasons I felt tough. Added to that I had some breathing hard as well.
So first loop completed in 2:30:xx.
Second Loop: After first loop, I was thinking that even if I am late by 8Mins, I could complete course in 5:08:xx, nothing goes as planned. Lake Placid course picks up Winds late in the afternoon, I could experience it at Keene descent which is at 60 - 70miles, it was not as bad as last year, I had disc wheel, I was not blown away.
Miles 70 - 90mile, I was holding steady power, exactly where it should be, but power was slowly fading, neck was getting stiff. I made a mistakes in my nutrition as well, not diluting enough (hypertonic) as i had to carry only two bottles in second loop, I made it bit concentrated assuming I can drink water at aid stations, but it was too late, feeling bit nausea. I paid a price for it starting 90Mile to 104 they were rolling hills, i did not have power, 90%effort to push on these hills, couple of people I passed before, passed me quickly on these hills.
At Aid station I diluted my nutrition and took some Caffeine gel as well and tried my best to push to T2. Managed to make it to T2 in 5:14:xx, but I had incident on fly dismount, landed safe but I was really moving fast, slipped and dropped my bike.
Nutrition: 1200Kcal of Carbohydrates along with Home made pancake.
Pros: Bike Strength certainly showed this year, but not as good as I did in training, Avg bike Power was 73%FTP, NP was 77%FTP Compare to 70% Avg power and 74%NP last year.
Keene descent was one of the best this year, I felt safe, helped a lot to have very few athletes on course and descend quickly.
Cons: Nutrition did not go as planned. And Have to adjust cockpit bit more to let my neck drop and relax.
Run:3:09:xx, no PR
I had good training this year, every long run was high intensity, I gained significant confidence on 20Miles long run I did two weeks before the race. So I set too much expectations going into this IMLP run, goal was high or beat old 3:09:xx effort.
First Loop: First one hour went well, pace was right there where it should be 6:55 to 7:05/mile Average. Coming into down town, I could feel some head wind and hills made it hard, so I was holding back my pace, managed to complete first loop around 1:32:xx.
Second Loop: Second loop pace was slowly slipping, not much shade on course, I could feel heat as well, upto 19Miles flat course felt okay managing 7:15/mile average, last 7 miles were painful, six miles were all are rolling hills, at Mile 22, after a climb I cramped really bad, I dropped my pace and stopped briefly for 10secs. Last mile was down hill, I saw one of my AG nice to pass him, I did not know I was in 4th until I passed one more 35-39 AG in last two hundred meters to the finish. It was really a close race.
Nutrition: Coke, Water every aid station, three GU Gels which is New in my run, not sure I will do this again.
Cons: No more GU gels, Coke alone should work better.
In Summary:
Swim: 51st in Age Group(AG), 356th fastest Over All(OA)
Bike: 5th in AG, 41st fastest OA
Run: 3rd in AG, 16th fastest OA
AG Awards and Kona qualification:
Glad to be 3rd in Age Group, wish it was better :-), always next time. There were three Kona Slots, I took last slot, because I really want to race Kona for bike course where I did not give all last year. I am glad to go back and race again.
Next Up:
Pumpkinman 70.3 on Sept 10th
World Championship Kona: Oct 14th.
Why Kona?
Kona been always special race since I started Ironman, Representing India makes it even more special, it has more meaning for me than anyone knows. And more over I always want to earn my spot, it makes me more proud and people around me as well.
This race will be dedicated to all those who paved a path for me to be where I am today.
To name a few, my biggest inspiration, my parents who were hard labors, thought me alot in life to over come pain during training, racing or every day life. Nothing else makes me stronger than those life I spent in India for 27 years. This race will be dedicated to them.
My Teachers and Professors who thought I have talent and offered support through scholarship, this race represents them.
And Last but not least many of my friends and their family who still work hard and support directly/indirectly, its all for them.
That's all I would like to say.
Thanks for reading. Good Luck in racing and training.
Subbu