I simply cannot believe it took me this long but finally, I write my first Ironman race report. (You can scroll down to Sunday if you want to just read about race day)
Thursday July 19th – Brooke and I head to the Hartford airport to pick up her Brother Jay who is flying in from Palo Alto, CA and who is also attempting his very first Ironman (and second triathlon) along with me. If you didn’t know this already, Brooke completed the hardest Ironman in history in 2005 at the Ford Ironman Wisconsin event where over 22% of the athletes did not finish. (To view results, log onto www.nasports.com)
After we picked Jay up, we headed back to the house to pack the Jeep and headed up to Lake Placid. Upon our arrival in Placid, we were greeted by a good friend Sheri Fraser who gave each of us the best pre-race massages that one could get, thanks Sheri, we owe you! We rent a great house that is within walking distance to the expo and the swim start and share with the guys from Team Sports and other close friends including Chris Travers from Profile Design who cooked 3 beer butt chickens for us on Thursday night for dinner. It was an early night for the three of us as we were all tired from getting up so early and Jay had flown in on a red eye flight the night before and barely got any sleep at all.

Friday July 20th – The three of us got up at 6am to have a light breakfast then headed down to Mirror Lake where we met our coach Mike Monroe for a loop of the swim course. I ran into my good friend Tim Moxy from Blue Seventy wetsuits (new sponsor to the Timex team for 2007) and caught up only briefly but Tim’s last words to me were “Have fun and let the suit do all the work.” Those words will stick in my head and carry me through the best swim of my life on race day.
After our swim, the three of us suited up in our rain gear and headed down to the Olympic Oval to register for the race. I have never experienced a race registration that ran so smooth, great job to NA Sports!
Friday night was the Pre race dinner, which was held out at the horse fairgrounds under a mega tent. Few things to mention…Mike Richter, former goalie for the NY Rangers gave a short speech about his quest to conquer Lake Placid and said he had dreamed the night before that the lake actually froze on race day while he was still swimming and when he became coherent there were a bunch of Detroit Red Wings skating around him…too funny!

Saturday July 21st – Day before the race and we are all getting very excited at this point. We spent the day getting a few last minute items including Brave Soldier anti-chaffing crème, tic tac box for my Advil, CO2 cartridges and a few other misc items. Saturday is also the day when you need to hand in your transition bags and turn in your bike. Once that was all done, we went back to the house, cooked some pasta and just relaxed for the evening. Heading to bed, we were all prepared to get very little sleep the night before the race but Brooke and I got a solid 6 hrs or so…Jay on the other hand was not so lucky. The first thing Jay did when he woke up on race day was to give us the big zero sign with his fingers, indicating the amount of sleep he had gotten that night.

Sunday July 22nd, Race Day!! – 4am came around pretty quick for Brooke and I but Jay had been waiting patiently for the alarm to sound so he could get on with the day.
We each had our own pre race meal that we were attempting to get down but it’s hard to eat at 4am. My favorite pre race meal is a wheat bagel with crunchy peanut butter, low fat cream cheese and a banana…oh, and my coffee.

After breakfast, we dropped off our special needs bags, headed to transition to put our water bottles on our bikes and add a few last minute items to our gear bags and then went back to the house to get suited up.
615am – we are all body marked, transition is set and we are way ahead of schedule and I am lovin’ it!

Start
My strategy for the swim was simple, be confident, know that I am going to get hit a few times, breathe easy and let the suit do the work for me. My strategy worked great as I exited the swim in 1:15, not bad for a guy that just took his first swim lesson in February.

Transition
Into transition I go…taking my time of course as I am not here to go for the win but to make sure that I am comfortable on the bike and I don’t leave anything behind.
I listened to the advice given to me by our coach as well as a few professionals who have done very well on this course and it was clear that you wanted to take it easy on the first loop. That I did, zone II the whole loop for a 3:01 and I felt great, I passed about 200 people on the climbs alone and never felt as if I was pushing too hard. Lap two came around and I was starting to get a tightening in my left IT band and my right hip flexor muscle, uh oh…between the high winds and the aches and pains my body was feeling, lap two of the bike was waaaay slower 3:24. What I imagined to be my strongest leg of the day has turned out to be the one I suffered the most on.

Transition
Finally I enter T2 and am feeling good that I am off the bike and about to start the run. (my weakest event of the three). As soon as I start running, my left IT band pops in for a quick hello and it hurts, so much so that I spend the first mile doing my best impression of Terry Fox. All of the sudden I hear people yelling my name and cheering me on and out of the corner of my eye, I notice its Cassidy from Trigger Point Therapy. “Good”, I say to myself, “Cassidy will know how to fix my IT band issues right here on course, he is the man you know?” So I stopped running and Cassidy popped out of his chair to come greet me in the road. I told him about my issue and he said to just “Tilt your pelvis more forward…that should help.” Once again, Cassidy talks me off the ledge and by mile three; my IT band pain would disappear for the remainder of the run!
I must say, my favorite part of the day was the first half of the run. I was feeling good physically and mentally, got to see my brother in law Jay a few times and saw how awesome he was doing and it helped to lift my spirits.
The second half of the run was not so much fun however…(I forgot to mention that I had been dealing with a mild stomach discomfort since mile 10 on the bike and wasn’t sure what was going on but I was having to force down my nutrition the entire day. Luckily, I never got sick but there were plenty of times that I came close). It is very difficult mentally to come all of the way back into town after completing 13 miles and hear people finishing, see the finish line shoot but have to take a different turn and head back out of town for your final 13 miles. I shuffled through the run and was still feeling fairly good. The plan was to run the second loop at 145-160bmp but I could not get my heart rate to go above 128. Along with my concentrated mix of Infinit nutrition I was using on the run, I was alternating at aid stations with Gatorade and coke…I love Coke, it really gives you that extra push and helped to settle my stomach. I knew the end was near when I hit the turnaround on the out and back portion of the loop an fueled me to push even harder. There was never a time during the race that I ever felt like I wanted to quit, our coach Mike Monroe really prepared Brooke and I for this and mentally I had prepared myself.
With 1.5 miles to go until I become an Ironman, I get the best cheer of the day from my best friend (and my wife) Brooke. Brooke was on her way out to start her second loop of the run and still had that same smile on her that I left her at the swim start with. She is truly the reason I was out there on Sunday and was my inspiration to keep going when things got difficult. Seeing Brooke right before the finish was just was a perfect ending to a perfect day for me.
I had two goals for the day, the first was to finish and the second was to come in under 13 hours, which I did with a final time of 12:54:30.

The Ironman will forever be the proudest accomplishment in my life and I can’t wait to start training for the next one, thanks for reading.
Oh, forgot to thank everyone who donated my to my fundraising efforts through the Janus Charity Challenge, i raised over $4,000 for Trips for Kids!!!

Congratulations to Alex, this win couldn’t have gone to a more deserving person…a true athlete!

July 14, 2007
www.downievilleclassic.com

This race is crazy-fun, and is easily the best mtb race weekend in California. The course goes straight up for almost an hour, then straight down for about the same. It’s not your typical XC course, which is why I’m such a fan.

I had the following discussion with a volunteer at registration that morning:
Me: “Are there going to be water bottles at the feed zones?”
Volunteer: “Oh yes, all you could possibly want: water bottles, clif shot, energy drink, etc”

I warmed up on the course, and when I returned to the start, the entire road was blocked with all the riders lining up. I pulled the ol’ quick turn around, and jumped into the FRONT row, assuredly annoying everyone who had adequately planned, prepared and arrived early.

As you’ll see from my Timex Data Recorder chart (which due to user error, also includes my warmup), my heart rate immediately went over 190 at the gun. This was the first race where I had to focus to keep it closer to 190, since at 195, I felt like I was going to completely explode.

My new Trek 69er climbs awesome, I’ll post separately on that soon. I was 2nd Singlespeed to the top, maybe top 10 overall (my wave included pro, expert, and singlespeed), less than 5 minutes off the leaders’ pace.

My average HR for the first hour was an amazing 190, and I’ve found my max has gone UP over the last two years, from 197 to 204. My total race included 1 ½ hours in zone 5, which I find incredible, and a possible sign of lower fitness, and not hampered by a triple latte and a double espresso Clif Shot before the start.

The aid station at the top had mini DIXIE cups of energy drink (because why splurge for full-size!?, Crystal Geyser bottles of water, and no Clif shots in sight. For the uninitiated, allow me this opportunity draw your attention to three notes on this situation:

1. Any bottle that’s not exactly the right size (i.e. Crystal Geyser) will NOT stay in a bottle cage, especially not during the Downieville Downhill (!)
2. Accessing water in a screw-top bottle carried in a back jersey pocket, is not even remotely feasible on said downhill course
3. While Dixie cups work on run courses, suprisingly, the cup’s open top presents an interesting challenge, even at only 10 mph on a climb

As a result, I was dry after the first hour, which actually didn’t matter so much since I got a flat tire 5 minutes later.

Note #4: lightweight race tires aren’t the best option for gnarly downhill races. They sure were fast on the climb though! This race requires BIG, sturdy tires. I should have run the Michelin XCR XTreme front and rear, with double amounts of sealant.

Note #5: It’s not a bad idea to check your spare tubes before the race (and this applies to spare tubulars as well). I took out my tubeless valve stem, inserted a tube, aired it up with my last CO2, and watched it immediately go flat. Tools and tubes don’t play well together in a saddle bag.

After watching about 500 people pass me in 15 minutes, a friend with no rear brake stopped and gave me CO2, and a dude with a camelback stopped to give me a tube, shrink-wrapped for extra protection- nice!

Back on the trail, I had FUN descending. As I rode past a group of spectators, one said “Wow, you look fresh”, “No kidding” I thought…!  I clawed my way back up to 7th, passing 3 or so other singlespeeds and several geared bikes.

I’m pretty bummed. This is my 2nd big race of the season, and the second time I flatted and finished 7th. I cancelled my entry at the Cream Puff, and am instead getting ready for the Park City Endurance 100 in August. www.theE100.com

The Timex Data Recorder is fantastic. Check out the following:

• I started it too early, so the graph recorded my 10 minute warmup
• My heart rate (HR) immediately jumped to 190 at the start
• Near the top of the first climb, my HR hit 204
• My HR recovered on each descent
• I was pretty excited when changing my flat, and my HR didn’t really recover
• Apparently I was pretty fired up after the finish, since I finished the race at 2:25, but the graph shows that my HR didn’t drop below 130 for another 15 minutes!!

Ok, somebody pinch me!!  It’s been 4 days and still does not seem real, I have to keep checking the results to make sure it wasn’t a dream!!

 I drove over from Burlington, VT to Lake Placid on Thursday evening.  It felt very odd packing my car to drive to an Ironman.  No need to box up my bike or make sure my bags weren’t over weight!  It was also really exciting knowing that because this was a “local race” there would be tons of family, friends and Green Mountain Multisport team members there.

I had high expectations for this race, knowing full well that I needed to execute the perfect race to meet my goals.  I always try to focus on race execution rather than time or placement and I find that the time seems to almost take care of itself.  Being the women’s professional championship many of my friends had told me that I was going to be first across the line, but anyone or anything can happen on race day and I wasn’t going to expect anything, I just wanted to execute. 

The weeks of cloudy and rainy weather leading up to race weekend were beginning to get to me and I was starting to get down, along with the usually woes of taper.  However, race weekend came and the excitement of Lake Placid quickly lifted my spirits as well as the break from the gloomy weather! On race day there were sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70’s - 80’s…not ideal, but I’ll take it!  The days leading up to the race were filled with meeting other athletes, sponsors and participating in the Timex panel on IMTV, which was really a lot of fun.  Especially since I was able to share my pre-race meal and admit to my pre-race psych up music (80’s hair bands!!).  My fiancé and I ended up staying in Wilmington, a good 12 miles from town, so it was a little tough driving back and forth, but it was also nice to be out of the chaos of downtown LP on race weekend.

I’m the kind of athlete who would prefer way too much time on race morning rather than not enough.  As a result Ash (my awesome fiancé) and I arrived downtown at about 4:50am race morning.  I usually can’t sleep anyway, so getting going early is actually easier than lying in bed.  I was able to get body marked, check my bike, walk through transition several times, hit the porto potties and be at Mirror lake at 5:30.  I put on my tunes, laid down, closed my eyes, relaxed and visualized my day for about 30min, which is a pre-race routine I highly recommend!

Swim: 54:11  I got in the water and warmed up for about 10mins right after the pro women started at 6:25.  Then I found a spot to hang onto the end of the dock for the next 20 minutes.  By 6:50 the water and dock were ridiculously crowded with people hanging onto people hanging onto the dock!  With about 5 minutes until race start I moved away from the dock and positioned myself as best I could right at the front and on “the line” to swim the shortest distance.  The gun went off and the pummeling began.  I received quite a few blows in the first few hundred yards and continued to have quite a bit of contact for the first lap.  I was able to cruise with ease and spot really well as my Blue Seventy goggles and Helix worked perfectly and were amazingly comfortable.  I swam hard and made sure I was always in someone’s draft, trying not to work too hard, but just cruising.  The second lap I caught onto the feet of the swimmer leading the second major pack and went along for the ride as he bridged up to the next group, we only caught them toward the end of the second lap, but none the less I was pretty happy with my swim.  I got out of the water in 24^th place.

T1:  3:18 As many of you know you have to run about a 1/4mi from mirror lake to the oval and then through the transition area.  I had practiced my transitions in person and in my mind multiple times and it paid off with the fastest T1 of the day and I began the bike in 10^th place!

Bike:  5:17:54  The bike was tough for me, I was never able to get into a rythum and go.  Honestly, I thought given good conditions I should be able to bike 5hrs.  I had done quite a bit of training on this course and knew it would be a tough, but realistic goal.  The first lap felt ok, but never the way I wanted it to and as I passed back through town completing the first loop in 2:33 I was hopeful I could make the second lap just about as fast.  However, the wind began to make an appearance as there was a head/cross wind from LP to Essex and then a head wind from Essex to Jay along the flat and “fast” section of the course.  As I began climbing the hills out of Jay I came to the realization I was not going to bike 5hrs.  But I kept telling myself  “that’s ok, it’s a long day and I still have to run a marathon.”  I kept my cadence high and relaxed and made sure not to push too hard on the return back to town.  I got off the bike in 5 place about 12:30 down from the leader.

T2:  1:04  Again rehearsal and mental practice paid dividends as I swiftly moved through transition to make up a minute of my deficit and claim the fastest T2 of the day.

Run:  2:59:36  My fiancé was waiting for me at the beginning of the run and yelled “you’re in 5^th place 11:30 down, RUN!!”  As I ran out of town I thought to myself, “it’s a long day anything can happen.”  I ran at a comfortable pace and at about mile 2 moved into 4^th place.  I began to see a lot of friends and spectators out on the course, who were giving me splits and telling me that I looked great and the guys ahead were fading.  As I made my left turn onto river road at about mile 3 I saw Belinda Granger with the lead biker and gave her a big cheer, (she’s awesome!).  But I had work to do and I remained focused.  At about mile 11 I moved into third position, right in the middle of town.  Being the under dog everyone was cheering for me and they were amazing, I felt like a rock star!  I used the energy of the crowds to push me and I moved into second at about mile 16.5, I was running steady and giving encouragement to everyone out there to help keep my mind-set positive.  At the turn around on river road around mile 19 I saw the Timex team manager, Ben Harper and he informed me with a big smile on his face that I was 28 second behind the leader.  At mile 20 I moved into first place and turned in on a little bit and was too afraid to look back!  My goal for the entire day was to run a solid last 10k and that time had arrived.  Up until this point I had been running “moderate-steady” knowing the last 6.2 miles were critical.  I had been sipping my concentrated calories from my awesome new Helium Fuel Belt since the start of the run and now was the time to use that energy.  I began to pick a pace that was slightly out of my comfort zone and just went.  I began the “short” out and back on Mirror lake drive, which seemed very long this time around, and the crowds were amazing!  With one particular spectator shouting “I knew you were going to catch them, I knew it!  You look awesome!!”  As I entered the oval I could hear Mike Reily calling my name and I was overjoyed!  I finished in 9:16:02 as the Ironman Champion!!!

As I crossed the line and 4 days later I am still filled with so much energy and gratitude for everyone who helped me get to that finish line.  My coach Kurt Perham, my fiancé Ashley, the Timex Multisport Team, all my sponsors and most importantly all the people out on the course, friends, family and random stangers!!  It sounds really cheesey, but I said it at the finsh line and I’ll say it again, it does not take a person to win an Ironman, it takes a community and I have the best community I could imagine!

Thanks!

Alex M-M

www.alexmmtri.com 

So, two Ironman races in 4 weeks. Good Idea or Bad Idea? I think it worked out pretty well. I was worried about my fatigue on race day and it ended up not being an issue. Phew!

I set another PR! 14:09.21. I ran one of the most solid races ever and I am very happy with the whole thing, this course is tough. I did it in 2005 for my first Ironman ever which happed to also be my birthday. (15:18.38) What an awesome day, but what a slow bike split, with a flat tire on top of it all! This year I was out for revenge on the bike course!

The 5 days we were up in Lake Placid was great! I had two friends doing the Ironman for the first time and they were very excited and nervous, but I was sure they would both have great days and finish with a smile! Not to mention the teammates who were racing, Alex M. and Marie, you both rock! Keith, Brook and Jay were also fun to have on the course. Jay, I bet you will do another race!

It rained, and rained and rained some more and was cold. I didn’t pack my rain jacket (DOH!) or enough fleece and paid for it by having to fight off a sore throat on Friday and Saturday. It eneded up hitting me today, Wednesday. I have taken my second nap of the day and I have been taking a lot of Emergen-C! Love that stuff!

Doug, our great mechanic, tuned up and cleaned my bike, which rode and shifted like a breeze, thanks! The practice swims were solid and the water felt cool, but once you got going you warmed up. I don’t think Mirror Lake will ever be called “warm.” I ran once and was pretty tired running the loop around the lake. I got very worried about my fatigue, so I decided to lay very low for the next 36 hours. Whadoyaknow? It worked!

Saturday at Ironman Village we had a TIMEX seminar on Ironman TV. Ben (our fearless manager) emceed the show and Paolina, Alex, Marie, Dave and I were on TV talking about training, racing and our pre race meals and superstitions. My in-laws had come into town and were in the audience watching with my husband. We had a good crowd and the village was full of people! One of the funnier questions from the audience was “Do you pee on the bike?” everyone shook their head up and down, except me!  Guess that is another thing I have to work on. I just can’t bring my body to do that.

The swim, well, I was planning on swimming a 1:15 and ended up with a 1:22. Not what I wanted and it wasn’t for fatigue, but just really crummy sighting. I went way far to the right and ended up all by my lonesome until I hit the first buoy. I was just having a lot of trouble with direction and kept veering off to the right even when I would turn left. I ended up very frustrated and then had to battle the kayaks who kept getting in front of me to steer me back to the crowd.

T1- 12:46. I know, I know. What was she doing? Eating pancakes? I HAD to use the porto potties! It’s also a long run from the lake to the oval!

Bike – I was trying to get a 7 hour bike split. I had done 7:11 in Coeur d’Alene. So the first lap I hit in 3:29 I was very happy. But a headwind crept up on the second lap and killed me. I was passed a lot more on the second lap too. I got to the out and back and I was very spent with a lot of climbing to go. My second lap was 4 hours. Ugh, would I have legs to run??? Total bike 7:31:49

At the aid station in Wilmington, the volunteer made a comment about a lot of crashes. They had sent 3 ambulances to the hospital and needed a 4^th! There was also a very bad crash on the downhill to Keene. People, be careful out there!

T2- 5:45 Much better! Coming off the bike I hear this woman screaming my name. It’s my mother in law. My in laws stopped me and took my picture before I ran off to change for the run. It’s really fun to have your family there in the crowd. It made a difference for me and my race.

Run – I felt pretty good. I saw Paolina in the first mile and she said I had good turnover. I never lost that turnover. I ended up running a 4:56:21 marathon. Not quite as fast as Alex, but great for me! The best part is I finally got my nutrition under control and that really made the difference in my run. I had energy and surprisingly fresh legs. (Hmm, maybe should have ridden harder?) I kept expecting to run out of gas, but I picked up a buddy, Joel and we ran together for quite a few miles. This was Joel’s first Ironman race and he was hurting on the run, but had to beat his buddies time of 14:23. I said stick with me, I am trying to break 14 hours. It really helped me to run with someone. Sometimes we would chat, and most of the time we would just run. We would wait for each other after the aid stations and kept each other going. This is the first marathon I didn’t want to quit or slow down, even though the last 10K was so very painful. Alex asked me at lunch how do I run for 5 hours? Well, that is how. I now ask him, “How do you run a marathon under 3 hours?”

I really wanted to break 14 hours…but I saw my family on the sidelines and my friends and husband racing I would stop for hugs and a quick chat. For me it’s about the experience first and foremost, and then it’s about the clock.

My husband was a hero. One of my friends was having trouble on the marathon. She had nutrition trouble on the bike, which is very bad. That means no energy to run. Not to mention the temperature drops quickly at Lake Placid when the sun goes down. She became hypothermic and was walking from mile 17 to the finish. He walked with her the whole way and they crossed the line together.

Check out my photos on ASI. I’m #2156. I’m also in the DVD everyone got from Janus on my pretty blue TREK bike! (hint: I’m in the TIMEX uniform)