Lake Placid Ironman

Larry Deem

11:29:35, "better start moving a little faster" I thought as I broke into a run to beat
my sub 11:30:00 goal. Changing from over four hours of plodding along for 26.1
miles to a sprint felt very refreshing, for the short distance separating me from the
finish line. 11:29:47, finished with 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and
26.2 miles of running.
Ironman is one of the most peculiar events in the very peculiar sport of Triathlon.
Consider the sheer distances; 2.4 miles of swimming followed by 112 miles of
biking and just for good measure 26.2 miles of running for a grand total of 140.6
miles. The average training time involved just to finish the event is approximately
15 hours per week for 25 weeks with many people training over 20 hours per
week. Next is the financial commitment of race entry fees, bike maintenance and
miscellaneous expenses that equal an average family vacation budget. Finally
and most important is the cost to family time and personal relationships that
inevitably become strained.
Why then do people continue to do Ironman events? The answer varies with
each of the 1800 men and women who choose to show up on race day. While
that is a rather glib answer I'll try to make a sensible case as to why I have done
four Ironman distance events.
Triathlons are broken into three classes based on the distance of the race.
Sprints races are short affairs that can be completed in about one to one and a
half-hours. Next in the distance hierarchy are the medium distance races that
take from two to six hours with the longest races being half the distance of an
Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). The third class is the
Ironman distance which is unique in the fact that from sprint to medium distance
races there is an easy progression of longer and longer races up to the half
Ironman then the quantum leap from a 5 or 6 hour race to an all day affair taking
some competitors over sixteen hours. It's the quantum leap from a half Ironman
to the full distance that is most attractive to me. To make an analogy consider
climbing a tree as a kid, did anyone not want to be the person who made it to the
highest branch?
On to the race, this years event had 1756 people toe the line for Ironman Lake
Placid. Only about 60 people failed to complete the entire course within the
mandatory time of 17 hours.
BANG, the race started at 7:00 AM sharp after an outstanding rendition of the
national anthem by a local music teacher. I put my head down and started
swimming with all 1756 people toward the same turn buoy 1,000 meters away.
The first 1,000 meters is always hard because everyone is being sorted out into
those who did their swim training and those that just think they did. The first of

two loops went by with the usual knocking around. "Never felt this sensation
before" I thought as my upper left chest started to feel tight. A short time later the
discomfort in my chest was supplemented with random cramping of my calf
muscles. Looking up I was at the swim finish and glad to be done with the first
leg.
A short jog to the changing tent and I was ready to embark on the bike leg. I ran
through the sea of bikes toward my trusty steed, number 607. Soon I was out of
the transition area and headed down the road thinking it felt good to be out of the
water. Up and down several rolling hill's and I was at the six mile decent into
Keen. Midway through the decent I saw two cyclists on the side of the road
being attended to by a paramedic. I glanced down and saw my speed was 45
mph, "not a good place to go down" I though and gently squeezed my brakes
hoping to avoid the same fate. For the six hours I spent on the bike, I remember
very little outside of the two down cyclists.
Back in Lake Placid at the transition area, I was anxious to start the marathon
and get this thing done. Another trip through the changing tent and I was in my
running attire and ready to tackle the final leg. Coming out of the transition area,
I saw Shelley cheering me on so I slowed down and gave her a kiss. Which I am
sure she appreciated because I had been eating power bars and drinking
Gatorade for over seven hours. My most vivid memory of the run is the constant
dull ache in my quadriceps that accompanied me from mile 1 to the end. Like the
bike, I do not have a clear memory of every moment during the four plus hours it
took me to complete the run.
Through the finish chute and into the hands of the "catchers" whose job it is to
quickly evaluate every finisher and take the bad ones to the medical tent and the
rest to the food tent. I was in the food tent category.
This was my fourth and most likely last Ironman distance race for a long time.
Why did I do four of them? I really do not know.