Eight members or recent alumni of the MSU Triathlon team marked July 20th, 2008 on their calendars over a year ago knowing it was going to be a challenging day but none expected what mother nature had in mind.
Ironman Lake Placid is one of the most popular Ironman races in North America (selling out ~2,500 spots a year in advance in a mere 10 minutes). Being the 10th anniversary and arguably one of the most scenic courses this years event was going to be one to remember regardless of what happened on race day.
The night before most expected some rain on race day but it appeared it would only come in the afternoon and be fairly mild. On race morning there was still a slight hope for most competitors that it might not rain.
The day starts with a open water swim with 2,500 of your closest friends...without any warning or countdown a canon goes off. In an instant all the perpendicular floating athletes become parallel swimming athletes and all that talk of camaraderie and friendship disappears. You quickly find yourself fighting for air, fending off flailing arms and legs, and thinking what the hell did I get myself into. Soon you're able to find and defend enough water to fall into a pretty good swim rhythm and you're quickly thinking this isn't half bad.
It's a two-loop swim course which leaves about 900 meters until the first turn buoy at which point there's a huge bottle neck of traffic as everyone wants to take a left as close as possible to the buoy. As the field spreads out the second loop is much more mild, except by now most competitors have noticed the rain has started (~7:30am)...
Upon exiting the water on the second loop athletes were greeted by "peelers" whose volunteer job is to pretty much rip wetsuits off athletes. Affectionately know as "strippers" by most, it is one of the most coveted volunteer jobs and quickly fills at all Ironman races.
After the 1/3 mi run to the transition area, athletes were shuttled into either a "mens" or "womens" changing tent. All the bike gear (shoes, helmet, nutrition and what not) is emptied out of the transition bag and swim gear is thrown in and it's off to the bike course...did I mention that it's still pouring rain!
If you weren't aware of the fact that Lake Placid, NY is tucked away in the heart of the Adirondacks the challenging 2-loop bike course would soon let you know. The first part of the "official" course description highlights a long downhill descent into Keane...what they leave out is that there's a 5 mile climb out of the town of Lake Placid to get there. Back to the "long downhill descent", translation "flying downhill at 40-50 mph with huge drops of rain beating down on you for 9 miles". At the same time dodging sunglasses scattered across the road as people quickly realized they were of no use all fogged up. The rest of the bike course included long climbs and much more mild descents. Many athletes also learned that where there's rain flat tires are sure to follow...something about the water holding particles to the tire combined with a riders inability to notice pot-holes or keep the bike rubber side down at all times.
Back to transition now 114.4 miles into the day (still pouring rain with some athletes getting to experience biking in hail as well) and time to put on some dry running shoes...only to leave the changing tent only to find it hadn't stopped raining in the 3 minutes you were inside:(
Quick shout out to two of our bike handling volunteers (Renee and Ashley) who are sporting a popular look from the day in Lake Placid seeing as you couldn't find a raincoat or umbrella to buy if you wanted to (spectators were also seen wearing wetsuits)!
Many friends and family also made the trip to Lake Placid and bravely endured the harsh weather to cheer and support the athletes on the course for 17+ hours on race day--their support and enthusiasm did not go unnoticed and is truly appreciated.
The 2-loop run course consisted of mostly rolling hills with two monsters at 9/22 miles and 11/24 miles that left athletes walking or wishing they had walked once they were at the top. The rain continued until about 8pm (making for about 12.5 hours of straight rain) meaning that if you finished in under 13 hours you raced the entire day in the rain.
For 140.6 miles it's up to you to survive the swim, pace yourself on the bike, and put anything you have left into trying to run. Many Spartans enjoyed epic journeys on that rainy day in July and at the end of the day all were crowned an "IRONMAN".
Fellow Spartan Ironmen--please share your personal iron-journeys!!!
--Uncie Tim
