IMLP - Home ground of my Ironman Career

Ironman Lake Placid is a home ground of 140.6 for many East Coast Athletes, I am one among them.. Every time I race this course I build special relationship with venue, when I did first time in 2013, I got hooked for long distance racing,  this year 2016 the relationship got even bigger by qualifying me to KONA.
Here is my detail race report

Saturday

Openers and Recovery day:

I followed every detail my coach Phil Wong sent me in email, I finished early bike openers, ate my breakfast, cleaned my bike and dropped it off at Transition by 12:30Pm, after lunch recovery with feet up , compression for 4.5hrs, recovery was the primary goal this day, I never want to mess up, that's what coach said.

5:30PM early Dinner, recovered more for 3hrs and went to bed early after recovery snack( mostly Protein a fish cake and Banana) at 9:00PM.

Sunday

Race morning - I had to wake up early 3:45am to eat breakfast, 3hrs before the race, so I consumed 100gms of Carbohydrate( Oat meal with Banana with Almond milk), and headed to race venue around 4:45AM, body marking,  air pressure in tires, nutrition setup all taken care by 6:00AM, while doing all these I was sipping up my energy drink which has 300KCal or 27gms of carbohydrates with electrolytes, I want to consume atleast 30 to 40mins before Swim starts at 6:40am, so that I feel easy while swim.

Swim Start Potty line: :-)

I always prefer to go to potty before any race start, big races Potty lines are mad house, I cannot believe I waited till last 5 minutes of the swim start, even though it is psychological thing,  I want to have no pressure, no distraction race, so waiting for Potty till last minute worth it. I sacrificed swim warm up for Potty :-) 

Swim Start 6:40Am: 1:10, 5Mins PRd

Two Loops of 1.2miles, Swim starts in waves where people judge there finishing time and stand in that wave, sub-1hr, 1 - 1:10 .... and I went into 1-10 based on my Swim TT experience. Lake placid swim course is one of the best swim and easiest of all legs,  they run a cable underneath, once you get hold of it you do not to sight often. I got lucky to catch hold of cable in both loops. 

I swam clean, smooth and felt moving fast,  never felt like this before even in my training. I finished first loop at 34:xxMins which was PR for me, second loop I finished in 35:xx still a PR, never swam 1.2mile under 36mins before, Entire swim I felt very very strong, only issue I faced during swim was traffic, and congestion at Turn bouy. I tried drafting as much as possible behind those guys who passed me, when I felt I am burning too much gas I was holding back, not worth it too much effort when its not my strong leg (Its matter of time and effort I will get efficient at it)

Finally got out of water in 1:10, did not know the time until later, but I know I came out water without feeling burn't out, legs felt fresh. Oh yes I started Kicking more than normal for last 300meters to wake them up from sleep mode, T1 is on the way. 

I PR'd my Swim by 5Mins from last Ironman, IMMT and 10Mins from my first IMLP in 2013

Take away from swim:

What I learn't was that I should have been under-1hr swim, I could have been faster, drafting behind those fast legs and shaved more time, Chances of traffic is low too.

T1 - Swim finish to T1 is about 300meters, Slow swimmers like me really have to fight congestion to get to T1, the path is literally packed, I had to run through crowd like snake. did a transistion in 5Mins+ it is so slow in competitive field, Have to do more work on it.

Bike: 2Loops of 56miles 5:23 IMLP PR

First loop - First thing I look while riding is Power, I am always nervous about Power meter not working during race day, my negative thoughts nearly became nightmare while I started riding, since the previous night I paired both Garmin 920xt and Garmin 810 with Power Meter, when Power is connected to one device 920xt the other device was not picking power, i.e 810 which is my head unit sits on Aero bottle, most critical one. I did not experience this or try this before in training, so I was in panic for first 5 miles, later I found the solution got garmin 810 working with power. I really got my life back, I wasted sometime but not sure how much, but it was not nice feeling.

After hassle with Power Meter First loop went so well, right on the mark in holding power I was doing 190 to 200watts about 75-80% of my FTP on all Flat section, and hills 220 - 250, sometimes little higher, as soon as I saw power going above 260watts I backed off. I did an average of 75%watts here

Second loop - As soon as I turned t0 60th Mile, near downhill section it became windy, got little warmer too,  sinuses and wind brought head ache, nose was leaking, very uncomfortable to focus, I forced and managed to stay on power at 75-80% on flat section but not close to what I did in first loop( i.e. upto 91miles), as I turned around hilly portion begins, I could not push harder than 85%, wind almost knocked me off course,  I am suppose to hit Threshold for 10miles on all hills but me and wind don't go together, and also Bonking in my first IMLP scared me to back off, There was a pack of people infront of me drifted away, I literally fought my ego and let them go or pass me, I stayed in my zone and pedal through climbs all the way to finish really strong.

I managed second loop at 70% FTP.

Over all average was 73% of my FTP 

Nutrition wise, as soon as I came in T1, I gulped 150Kc of Energy drink, my custom formula. I stayed hydrated and ate 5 waffles for entire ride, taking 1/3rd waffle for every 20 minutes to 30minutes, water at aid stations, sports drink every 15 to 20minutes. 35Minutes before my bike finish, I grabbed a Caffeine gel for extra push on final hill section, kind of helped and stayed strong all the way through to T1, Also I was just drinking but not eating anything for last 6miles.

This was a IMLP 20Mins PR, but not my bike PR.

Here is how my power file looks

Strava File: https://www.strava.com/activities/652640867

Take Away:

Don't try something new that you never tried in training, leave things the way it is. I might go with better race tires my next IMLP and will not use 808's for this course, I am 140lbs and I was all over the place in second loop.  Change my Helmet as well :-)

T2: Was not mess as it was in T1

But I had a tough moment when Volunteer dropped my Bike scracthing my handle bar. Tough to digest now than before.

Run: 3:09:18 PRd all my Ironman run by 14Mins

First loop: When I first came into run, I was not sure where I was standing in Postion, First mile was all downhill, so I took advantage of it, and than upto  5.5miles, I paced at 7:00Mins since It was warm and no shade at all, it felt terrible to push harder, as soon as turn around came back, little breeze helped was strong enough did not fade so maintained the pace, I was holding Mid Intensive to low end Intensive in pace,i.e. about 7:00 to 7:15/mile after 8.5miles some serious climbs, I pushed it but managed Intensive zone pacing, it was warm very warm, I managed same pace almost entire first loop upto  15Miles. At mile 9th Friend told me I came off the bike at 18th place, was not happy about it, also my goal for run was to under 3:10, Boston qualifying time, having done good training focusing marathon at sub-3 paces, I had confidence but risky to go hard because I haven't done Marathon by itself ever, so I managed to maintain the pace what I was doing because I am under sub-3:10. Also this year I was in much better shape for run than ever. Probably lot of changes I made this year with diet and Training, I want give credit to my Coach Phil Wong who trusted me more than me in doing Threshold workouts early in the season and building me towards marathon pace for sub-3.

Second loop: Was crazy warm and repeat all over all again, I tried maintaining Mid Intensive i,.e 7:00 to 7:15pace on flats and 8:00 to 9:00min/mile on hills, but  itwas getting warmer and warmer, my pace fell off after 22nd mile, but still at under 3:10 pace goal, I want to push little harder from here, but at one aid station I drank two glasses of water instead of one, that was a mistake stomach didn't like that, over hydration and stomach was causing cramps, when hill came in 300 meters, my pace slowed down a bit, that was good thing, after climb stomach really felt good, one of my friend (Ricky) who was cheering us, told me there are 6 more people a head me "Go get him", I know that timing chip read was 2 miles before and I already passed one in my age group, all I needed was top 4, so I maintained my pace and was still digging deep, Mile 22-25 all hill section, pace was down,  my goal was to get under 3:10, if I do under 3:10 I get qualified for Boston Marathon if they allow me, so I was right on track in pacing. I passed one more guy who was 38 at 24.7th mile, turn around and final home stretch, it was down hill, I was pushing hard to get sub-3:10, one of my friend told I am at very safe place in position, but not sure where I was, at this moment all I was thinking was sub 3:10 for Boston qualifier :-), so I pushed real hard till the finish line to go into Med tent, I was happy that I did under 3:10, when I asked Volunteer what place I finished, he showed 2nd, I was shocked, happy and emotional, didn't believe it but I was very very happy.

Note:I would say those Threshold run and long Marathon pacing workouts I did with my coach helped me so much to sustain strong effort in the run. I had fastest run in my Age group, I came 18th after bike and moved upto 2nd after Marathon. Next up is Kona training :-)  

I think Overall I must have 6th fastest in Marathon.

Strava file: https://www.strava.com/activities/652548319 

Stats Summary:

Swim: 1:10, PRd by 5Mins, 77th in AG

Bike:  5:23:xx, 18th in AG

Run: 3:09:18, 2nd in AG

Awards:

Qualified for KONA 2016

Thank you for reading.