Lake Placid Ironman 2008
It’s taken me 8 years, but I finally figured out how to train for one of these. I found the perfect mix of life/work/training and finished the Lake Placid Ironman in my fastest time for the 140.6 mile distance to date. More importantly, I hardly made any sacrifices in my personal life that compromised my friends and family. That is something I have always struggled with being an endurance athlete. How to find time for personal relationships and fun while still having enough hours allotted for all 3 disciplines. I decided to take advice from my friend and business partner, Paul, to embrace the “less is more” methodology. Less long, slow workouts. More mid-distance, fast ones. It works. I still did enough long, steady miles to remind the legs what it will feel like at mile 95 on the bike and 22 on the run, but not nearly as many as years past. Throwing in 2 week-long cycling efforts (Tucson and Colorado) topped me off and made my weekly efforts back at home less stressful because I had built up solid strength and fitness. IF (and that’s a real “if”) I race long distance again, I will have the key to what works best for me. Just wish I’d found it years ago!
As far as my race in Lake Placid…I finished 10:33:57. I was 2nd in my age group, and 9th woman overall including Pro’s. Not bad for a procrastinator who was more interested in drinking wine with friends on week nights and voting for our next American Idol Superstar back in March!
My race was fairly smooth from start to finish. The weather was lousy (rained all day long, heavy at times), but we were all in the same boat, so who cares.
1:09 is a decent swim time for me considering I am too wimpy to fight the crowds and usually give up a little on the first loop until the scrum clears out. Exiting the water, I felt very calm and had my 2 good friends, Tom & Stacey, rip off my wetsuit. That was hilarious and gave me a real rush of adrenaline.
Loop 1 of the bike was very fast for me. I was on pace to bike a 5:20. Wow. Pinch me and tell me I’m not seeing the numbers wrong! Somewhere along the way between mile 65-70, I lost the use of my small chain ring. Oh well. Get over it. I managed to ride back up to town without much damage and finished holding just under a 20mph avg for the 112 mile ride for a 5:40 bike. I lost 20 min on that 2nd loop, but I was banking on losing 10min w/out mechanical issues, so I wasn’t overwhelmingly disappointed.
Onto the run, (my favorite part!!!) I felt good. I knew from mile 1 if I kept drinking and didn’t try to start speeding up too quickly, my run would be solid. I finished strong with a 3:34 marathon, and best of all, I was without pain the entire day!
Best race execution I’ve ever put together. I’m a slow learner obviously, but as the saying goes…better late than never.
Cheers,
Mimi
Mimi on the bike (this was only the 2nd time riding the bike! She took it for a brief first spin to make sure it was working ok only 2 days beofre the race!)
Onto the Run
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