IM-USA Race Report

Written by Paul Bennett

Ironman USA Race ReportJuly 20, 2008This all started last June when I decided I wanted to do a triathlon, by mid July I was ready to sign up for my first Ironman.  Of course I had only completed a sprint at this point in time, so why not do an Ironman with all that experience.  I was one of the lucky ones when I signed up for Lake Placid online, the race sold out in 3 hours.  Fast forward through many months of training and races to the week of the race.  I remember waking up thinking that I was doing an Ironman this week.  The nerves started kicking in a bit.  Thanks to a bunch of positive support the nerves almost settled down.  Wednesday morning came and we were all off to Montreal as that was the closest airport to Lake Placid.  Driving into the Lake Placid area was fantastic.  The area up there is absolutely beautiful.Finally got settled into the hotel and took a walk down main street, starting to get excited as a bunch of people were already in town for the race.  Got a call from the Bike Sherpa and they were in town a day early and wanted to know if they could drop my bike off at the hotel.  Great service from those guys and would highly recommend them for other races.Thursday I went out for a swim and damn that water was cold.  Cold enough to knock your breath out when you put your face in the water.  Did a 30 minute swim and then headed back to the room.  Registration opened at 10:00 and the nerves kicked in again standing in line.  I was standing in line in front of some random guy from Spain who had a really low bib number (31).   Come to find out he was the overall winner of the race.  Went out to drive the bike and run course after registration and lunch.  The course was unbelievable; I was really looking forward to the race.  The hills didn’t seem that bad in the car, but they never do in a car.Friday was all about rest.  Only left the room for about 30 minutes to go get lunch.Saturday I went out for another swim and then a short bike ride.  Everything was good to go.  Was feeling good with the pre race routine of food and hydration.  Used Nuun tablets in every water bottle.  I was not going to make the same mistakes as I did at Wildflower with the pre race hydration.  Took my bike and gear bags down to the transition area.  Had a calzone the night before the race as I had done every night before a big training day.  I was sticking to my plan.  I finished getting everything ready and went to bed around 8:30 PM.Sunday morning at 3:45 AM, the alarm went off and just the sound almost made me throw up.  The nerves were kicked in.  Ate some breakfast and took a shower.  I was in a full panic at this point expecting at any moment to see my breakfast again.  I was ready to get started.  Headed down to body marking and to drop off the special needs bags.  Found a good place to wait and put on my wetsuit.  Kissed the kids and Jessica and headed off to the start.  Once I got into the water the nerves went away.  The water felt good today and I was ready to go.  With the helicopter buzzing around the lake, the pros went off and then the clock hit 7:00 and the cannon blast could be heard all around Mirror Lake.  As I started to swim I could hear U2’s “A Beautiful Day” being played.  I just smiled and started swimming; I had started my first Ironman. It wasn’t too long after the start the rain started too.  Little did I know it was going to rain all day.  The swim is in Mirror Lake right in the town of Lake Placid.  The water is so clean you can see a guide rope that holds all the buoys together, almost like a lane line.  The water is so still that when 2000+ people start swimming a current gets started in the direction of the swim.  I got out of the water feeling very good and headed to the transition area.  The transition area is about a ¼ mile run from the lake to the tents.  At this point the transition area was a soupy mess of mud.  Great for the bike shoes!  Headed out on the bike winding through town noticing all the hay bails at all the turns.  Finally got out onto the open road and started rolling.  My HR wasn’t reading for some reason so the entire day was going to be on a guess, which wasn’t ideal but would deal with it.  This is when I noticed the hills.  The course report said there was 8500 feet of total climbing and I was starting to believe it. The bike is a two loop course with a very long, fast downhill, lots of rollers, some short steep and then a 12 mile climb back into town.  Made my way around the bike course and was ready to hit the run.  My nutrition on the bike was perfect.  I was glad I had really worked out all the kinks.  Between the hills and the rain my bike time wasn’t anywhere near what I was expecting.  Started the run feeling strong.  I had nailed the nutrition on the bike and was feeling great.  I ran the first 13 miles at a decent pace and was excited that I would finish under 14 hours.  At mile 14 I had a pretty bad pop in my left foot that almost stopped me dead.  At this point I shuffled out to the turn around at mile 18.  With favoring my foot the pain moved into my knee and running was next to impossible.  I remember seeing the mile 23 sign thinking “its just a 5K to the finish”.  I ended up walking to mile 25 and told myself to “suck it up princess” and run the last mile.  Someone had told me that “It hurts just as much to run as it does to walk, so you might as well run”.  This run course was by far one of the hardest runs I have ever done.  Now I understand why Carole had me run at Kennesaw mountain.  I came down the final stretch and could see the finish.  My body hurt so bad but as I entered the oval all the pain went away.  The crowd was going crazy and I couldn’t believe the finish line was a few steps away.  It was hard to hear but I did hear “Paul Bennett…. You are an Ironman”.  Of course while AC/DC “For those about to rock” played in the background.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  I crossed the line in 15 hours and 3 minutes.  Not what I was hoping for but who cares, I finished.  I had a couple Subway sandwiches and a slice of pizza after the finish along with a massage.  I was ready to grab my stuff and take a hot shower.Went to sleep as soon as my head it the pillow.  Woke up about 3 hours later feeling like crap, I was sweating and freezing, hungry and nauseous all at the same time.  Watched TV for a couple hours and finally went back to sleep for until about 7:30.  I hobbled out of bed and went down to the expo area to get my finishers gear.  The line was unbelievable to signup for 2009.  Went I got back to the room my son who had just woke up said, “There is our Ironman”.  Pretty cool coming from a 5 year old.  I sat around for a while calling people back and answering email.  We got everything packed up and headed back to Montreal for our early flight the next day, stopping to have a double cheeseburger and a root beer float on the way back.  Got up at 2:45 AM to head to the airport in Montreal, our fight left at 6:00 AM which means returning the car and getting tickets, going through customs, checking bags and getting to the gate left us about 20 minutes of spare time.   As I sat on the plane typing this up I looked at my watch to see what time it was and there on the main screen it said, “102 days, IM Florida”.  That’s right, I am doing this again on November 1 in Panama City Beach and I can’t wait.  This time I will respect the distance a little more and know what to expect.  I look forward to training again and hearing my name called out again.I want to thank my family for putting up with all the training and time away, that goes for the next couple month too as it will start all over again next week.  Also for them braving it out during the 3+ inches of rain that fell on race day.  I want to thank Coach Carole for getting me across the line, there is no way I could have done this without her.  Thank you to all the friends/training buddies for the positive support and waking up at the crack o’stupid every morning to go out and train.  Finally, thank you to all the people at All 3 Sports, your support and service has been second to none in providing all things needed for this race.  You guys ROCK.  Actual nutrition plan:Pre-race:  Bowl of oatmeal at 4:00 with a bagel.Bike:4 24 oz bottles with two scoops of Carbo-Pro and three scoops of Gatorade Endurance powder mix.  Each bottle had 374 calories in it.  I would use one bottle every hour.  After those were gone I drank three bottles of Gatorade on the course and had a Power Bar.  I also used two salt stick pills every hour (While these help stay hydrated, using them in the race was a pain).  I also ate a couple bananas on the ride too.Run:Water and Gatorade at every aid station.  Chicken broth at every three with water. Related links:http://ironman.com/events/ironman/lakeplacid/shea-kenney-and-pontano-win-the-10th-annual-ford-ironman-usa-lake-placidVIDEO:http://www.nasports.com/index.php?dir=RaceVids/imusa&vidname=RaceVid-2008-LP-high&playtype=wmv&w=480&h=360�