Ironman Lake Placid 2012

I had cautiously high hopes going into Ironman Lake Placid.  Cautious mainly because my 2002 ironman lake placid experience washellish...I had to "will" myself just to finish. Being somewhat naïve about electrolyte intake, I had cramped heavily on the bike beginning around mile 75, forcing me off the bike at mile 90, and continuing through mile 15 on the run but taking enough electrolyte fluids to enable me to run/hobble home (with Kim waiting for me so that we could finish together).

When I signed up for the 2012 race a year ago, my main objective was to have a better experience than 2002. Since my 2010 and 2011's goals focussed on completing the California Triple Crown (three double centuries), I felt my cycling base was well ahead of 2002; but swimming and running have been practically non-existent for the past few years. So I started with baby steps… 30 minutes of swimming drills in the pool and 15 minutes of running were the workouts that first week. From that I spent time building my base run and swim.

To help achieve my objectives I hired a coach through Training Bible Coaching (Joe Friel is a well known triathlon coaching guru who now has a fleet of coaches that generally follow is style of training). In March after my initial coach decided to focus on his full-time job, Trevor Glavin set my training schedule the rest of the way. Chris Padavana at Eden Bicycles helped convert Kim's Felt B2 into a Tribike fit for me. Dr. Lauren Elkin at Integro Sports (implementing Active Release Technique) helped me come back from a shoulder injury in January and chronic hip flexor issues. Tyrone Williams' massages were instrumental in keeping my body supple. Kim and Noah helped keep my sanity when things were at their worst.

I had forgotten the effort needed to train in three sports, plus work, plus have a family life. Work and family both suffered during the critical weeks and months leading up to the event. The longest weeks were 20+ hours of training not including the driving, appointments, and rest. The coach's plan contained a much higher level of intensity training than I did 10 years earlier.

Originally Kim and I were going to do the event together again. With the stress of trading training, illness, and poor form, Kim decided not to do the event in April. For me this created a variety of emotions: guilt, tension, and loneliness; but in the end it was probably for the best. She plans to do the inaugural Ironman Lake Tahoe next year.

I headed to Lake Placid on my own via Montreal with a pleasant drive from Canada headed south. I enjoyed the forested beauty of upstate New York with numerous ponds, lakes, and streams. My accommodations were interesting, a rural cabin about 5 miles outside the town with an outhouse and adobe fire stove which I shared with a scientist from UCSF in Mission Bay (purely coincidental that we were both from the Bay Area).

I forgot how time consuming the pre-race festivities are: sign-in; bike retrieval from Tri Bike Transport; pre race dinner; mandatory meeting; driving the course; short/taper runs, swims and rides; ART/massage work; expo; putting special needs and transition bags together; racking the bike and bags; napping; shopping; participated in an Infinit Nutrition simulation camp lead by pro triathlete Dede Griesbauer; etc. etc. It wasn't until Saturday that I actually got to relax, start reading a new novel, and then napping the afternoon away in a hammock in the woods.

Race morning I awoke at 2 to begin my pre-race meal consisting of baby food and electrolyte drink. At 4:30 I willed myself out of bed and entered the transition area to body mark, check the bike, stretch, change to the wetsuit, use the facilities, and drop the special needs bags off.
My personal goals were to:

1. Finish
2. Survive the swim
3. Have fun during the day (don't lose perspective)
4. Improve on all times from 2002
5. Negative Split the Swim, Bike, Run
6. Feel strong at the end
7. Dream day would be sub 12:00 (s1:30, b6:00, r4:00, t0:30)

I started far right of the race buoys near the back shore. After the start gun sounded, I waited 30 seconds to get a bit of clear water to swim and stayed far right on the first ½ lap. Heading back towards the race line buoys was rough, getting elbowed in the nose, pulled down, and swam over.  I felt considerably stronger on the second lap, more relaxed, able to find a good rhythm, some feet to draft, and stayed near the underwater cable/buoys, mostly on the inside of the line. Coming out of the water felt good (at least I was with many other swimmers!) and the quarter mile run to transition was easy. 
Link to You Tube Ironman Swim Start

I had decided to do the ride in traditional bike shorts (I never felt comfortable training in the tri suit on long rides) and it took a bit of time (transition tent was standing room only) to change.  I paced myself on the bike up the first climb and throughout the first lap – it was windy with some tailwind on the flats and headwind on the climb back to Lake Placid.  At the half way point I realized that the bike was hillier than I had thought and that a sub 6 hour bike wasn't going to be possible with the wind (and I was ok with that perspective).  On the second lap the wind shifted and seemed stronger with more swirling and less tailwind and considerably hotter/muggier after the decent into Keene.  I kept to my nutrition plan with one bottle per hour supplemented by water that I drank/poured over me (I could have used a third cage to keep the water).  My arm coolers were drying out quickly (within 15 minutes of each aide station). My legs felt good throughout and none of the fills felt overly difficult.

Heading into the run my legs were a bit stiff but working ok and the first few miles went fine.  I was drinking a bit at each aide station and was continuing to supplement with salt caps but my stomach was feeling odd.  By mile 7 I was still running but not feeling well.  At mile 9, just in front of the ski jumps, both inner hamstrings seized up simultaneously forcing me to walk.  By mile 14 I had slowed to a crawl, my stomach was aching, hamstrings cramping, mentally I was shutting down, and I just wanted to lie down at the side of the road and go to sleep.  

At the 15 mile marker I heaved repeatedly at the side of the road until all the fluid (I was on a strictly liquid diet) in my stomach was expunged.  I immediately felt better mentally and physically. The next aide station had chicken broth (first one all day) which sounded fantastic!  I took two or three cups at each mile station thereafter.  My legs began to loosen I was able to start walking faster.  At mile 18 the cramps were receding and I was able to run again at mile 19.  I ran the rest of the way back to the finish (walking aide stations and a part of the steep hill in downtown – the mile splits from the Garmin were encouraging) and felt alive and strong. The final miles were fresh and easy and the finish euphoric!

Body and mind work together sometimes and sometimes they are at odds. Learning to feel and understand what the body needs and fueling it appropriately helps but the mind in focus. My motto for the race was to have 5H's which I repeated throughout: relaxed Heals, loose Hips, soft Hands, quiet Heart, and a clear Head.

Link to: Schaefer Race Video Recap

After the initial elation and with weeks to analyze/over-analyze my outcome, I think I was:

• physically prepared,
• able to finish strong,
• able to overcome the demons of the day,
• accomplished 50%+ of my goals (1, 2, partly 3, 4, 5, and 6),
• not overconfident but should have had a better run nutrition plan or had a more defined contingency plan. 

While I initially was a bit disappointed with my results (time), I'm thankful for the opportunity to do the race again and that 10 years later my body, mind, and will were able to achieve my ultimate goal.  

As I explained with one of my Eden cycling teammates today, it's not about swimming 2.4 miles, riding 112, and then running a marathon.  If you think of it that way during the race it is overwhelming to consider and a parallel to life.  When life (work, family, health, or iron) gets hard you need to set smaller 'bite size' goals.  In Ironman it's the next buoy, the next lap, the next aide station, the next light post, or even the next dash in the center of the road.  While self-inflicted, Ironman or any endurance activity helps me to charish each moment and prepare me for life's future challenges.

 
2012 Ironman Lake Placid

Daniel Schaefer

Age Group Rank: 148

Overall Rank: 1066

BIB: 2315
Division: M45-49
Age:46
State: CA
Country:USA
Profession:Engineer

Swim:1:25:17
Bike:6:11:52
Run:5:23:09
Overall: 13:18:27

Congratulations, Daniel, on your finish!

2002
1471     15:32:40 Schaefer, Daniel        Castro Valle CA USA    276/313 M35-39  796  295 1622 1:32:32  2:27   7:04  279 1465 7:28:03  15.0   26:50  256 1368 5:58:14 13:41