Ironman Lake Placid Race Report

On Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30am at the Jack Rabbit Hostel in Lake Placid, NY. This was the first hostel I have ever stayed at before. There were many other ironman athletes staying at the hostel. I didn't even know it was a hostel until the day before. The place was very nice and I slept like a baby the night before. Once I woke up I had my daily cup of joe and downed three plain bagels. Then at 4:30 the two other pros (Miranda Alldritt and Raymond Botelhoand) ans I made our way to the transition.


Once we arrived to the transition the announcer said that the water temperature was 74 degrees. This meant that the water was wetsuit legal for the age groupers but NOT for the professional field. This was a disapointment to me because the wetsuit would have helped me out on my weakest leg. I couldn't use my new Xterra triathlon wetsuit :(

The Swim:

I jumped in the water 5 minutes before the start. I hesitated getting in sooner because I didn't want to get my core tempature too cold in the 74 degree water. There were about 30 male pros and 20 female pros. As we all treaded water and waited for the gun to fire. The gun went off amd my adrenaline shot up high! I relaxed and got into a rhythm. Matt Sheeks was right infront of me so the both of us worked together and came out of the water in 36 minutes flat on the first lap. On the second lap the age groupers started catching me. The age groupers started 10 minutes behind the pros but they were able to use wetsuits. They quickly swam over top of me. It was a struggle to just survive the last swim lap. Matt Sheeks was smart and got way on the outside to aviod the rush of wetsuit swimmers. The last 400 meter my calfs started to cramp up a little. Finally I touched land again. I was relieved as I finsihed the 2.4 mile swim in a slow time of 1:17. This was my longest swim ever! I quickly started running into T1. It was about a 400 meter long run just to get into transition.

The bike:
I quickly mounted my Suplicy bike and was on my way as I passed hundreds of people. In the first lap I stayed relaxed because I knew it was a long hilly course. I went through the first 56 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Just where I wanted to be. On the second lap I started to push a little more. In the last 15 miles my body didn't feel like it hard great power but i continued to push the last hilly sections to the finish. I did drop my chain on one of the hills but was able to hop it back on without stopping. Out on the bike course I comsumed First Endurance EFS liquid shot and some First Endurance EFS drink. The volunteers handed out bananas, some cut up powerbars chunks and water which I took at every aid station. Rolling back into Lake Placid one of the volunteers directed me the wrong way back into transition. I started going down the hill. I was forced to hop off my bike and run 100 meter back up the hill with my bike back into transition. I finished the 112 mile bike in 5:05 which was the 8th fastest bike split from the pros. I slowed down about 5 minutes on the last lap but was able to make up a lot of time from my slow swim.

The run:
I felt pretty good right off the bike. I had a First Endurance EFS liquid shot flask in one hand and a bike bottle filled with water to start the marathon journey. My first 3 miles were just under 6 minute pace. However, the first 3 miles were all down hill. I settled in and concentrated on catching a few more people. I was quickly reeling people in as i kept it on cruise control. I went through the half marathon in about an hour and 27 minutes. On the 2nd lap I slowed down a little but finished my marathon in a time of 3 hours. 6:53 mile pace and had the 5th fastest run time out of all of the pros.

The finish:
As I approached the finish I was surrounded a few hundred people cheering. There was the Ironman annoucer but I have no idea what he was saying. He might have called my name or he might have said the famous "You are an Ironman". There was only one thing on my mind which was my mother...the soul reason for doing my first Ironman was in memory of her. I wanted to spread awareness of Lou Gehrig's Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease my mother had. Through out the whole race I thought of my mother. On my chest I have the ALS logo to help spread the awareness and as I ran down the last 100 meters I pointed to the ALS logo on my chest. I crossed the line in a total time of 9:28:58 and put up my hands in the air. Then I dropped to the ground and did the Blazeman roll in memory of Blazeman, my mother and everyone else who was affected by this disease.

I finished as the 11th male pro overall out of 30. I didn't even know that the 10th overall pro was only 19 seconds infront of me. If I would have known, I would have tried to push a little more to catch him. I can't complain because this was my first Ironman, my first pro race, and my 3rd main triathlon ever.

What I have learned:

I loved racing this new Ironman distance! I went through many feelings throughout the race with my mind, body, and my emotions. The bigger the challenge, the more I love it! I feel that I can improve in all areas in the ironman. I know I need to work on my swim since it is my weakest leg. I started swimming this year and about 6 months ago I couldn't swim more then 400 meter without stopping. Recently, I have only been swimming 2-3 hours a week. Top triathletes swim 8-10 hours. Therefore it is critcal I spend more time in the pool. There is very limited pool time where I am located in northern, NY. There is no masters swim groups either. With this being said, I plan on moving to a triathlon town in the near future. I also feel like I can improve my bike and run splits. I've been cycling about 10-12 hours a week and running about 40-45 miles a week. In build for my next Ironman, I plan on putting a little more volume.


My body has recovered really well from the Ironman. I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be. I was more sore after doing an all day epic hike in the Adirondacks a few months ago. I started running again on Thursday (4 days after). Now I am back in full swing of training again.

Thank you everyone for your all of your support!