Ironman Lake Placid 2012 / Dave Sek


 

Ironman Lake Placid

David Sek

July 23, 2012

 

Well, I’m going to KONA! But before we get to that, let’s back up for a moment…

 

Michelle and I made the trip up to LP on Thursday. It was nice having some one on one time with Michelle on the way up. I remember her saying, “Whatever happens, don’t let me sign up for next year” and thinking, “We’ll see how that works out.” It was pretty cool to see so many athletes still out training in town when we rolled in around 7.

 

Friday, I ended up meeting Steve, Jeff and Marc for a swim before grabbing breakfast and heading down to pick up my race packet while Michelle took off to ride the bike course with the Boxford crew. With a pretty sweet LP backpack in hand, walked back to the condo for the remainder of a pretty low key day, just hanging out, napping, and doing some minor preparations for the race. Later that evening, we ended up driving out to Westport to have dinner with the lovely ladies before heading back to LP.

 

Saturday morning was a race prep brick. Steve and I were told to be at BPC Central at 7:30 sharp so we could watch Jeff finish getting ready and roll out around 7:50. Unfortunately, Marc decided it would be a a good idea to scout out how bad the roads were around the high school where they were doing construction. No sooner than he says, “Wow, looks like this is a recipe for a flat” my tire went “psht”. The fact that I had gotten yet another flat by the high school and my tire was once again unseated from the rim was not giving me the warm fuzzies for the following day! We ended up swapping out both the tube and tire and rode on it for another 20 minutes.

 

The rest of the day was basically dealing with preparing for Sunday and logistics: eat, sign up for LP 2013, eat, drop off bike, eat, stretch and relax, eat, bed around 9…

 

Dropping off my bike a couple things occurred to me. First, all three IM I’ve done, I have competed on different bikes (hopefully this trend doesn’t continue). Second, I’ve come a long way from having 10 gels taped to my top tube (pictured below). I love being able to make my own sports drinks!

 

Most memorable parts of the day:

~ Steve saying he would have to talk to his wife and think about signing up for 2013 then walking into the high school no less than 2 minutes behind us.
~ Tim deciding a good way to fuel for an Ironman would be to eat and entire, greasy, Hanniford’s pizza.

 

RACE DAY
I ended up getting up around 4:15 (without the use of an alarm) which goes to show approximately how well I slept the night before. I headed out with Tim and Steve for the walk down to transition to start the events of the day.

 

For some reason, even walking down to the swim start, I was still in denial about the fact that I was about to do yet another Ironman. There’s always that sense of “what did I get myself into” but this felt more like approaching the edge of a steep cliff. This was the first time I can ever remember being nervous before a tri. After hanging out at BPC central for a while, made may way down to the swim start to take the plunge with everyone else.

 

Swim (55:48)

As I was treading water fighting for a spot underneath the flags, I distinctly remember hearing “Love and Memories” play over the loudspeaker with moments to go before the gun going off and thinking “everything is going to be okay” at which point I finally calmed down and was ready to race.

The gun went off, and so did we, for a 2.4 mi swim around Mirror Lake. Thankfully, I didn’t get too beat up. The first loop I started in the middle and gradually made my way left to swim closer to the cable. It was really only in the 2nd look that I was ever able to swim on the cable. Looking at the swim times, next year I definitely need to be in the combat zone.

 

Bike (5:34:18)

The first loop of the bike course, was cool and dry. Temps down in the valley were in the low 70’s. Coming back on 9N south there were a lot of people behind me and it was pretty hard to stay out of everyone’s draft zone. As temps were approaching mid-high 80’s coming back into town I still felt pretty good and had made it through the first loop of the course in about 2:42.

 

I was psyched to make the descent on the second loop and still have the roads be dry! It had definitely warmed up by then and the heat was starting to take it’s toll. Temps in the valley were about 95 degrees. By the time I made the turn around on 9N again, I was really starting to feel it. I found myself sitting up a lot and wanting to be off the bike. I’d say this is where having already experienced these kinds of conditions in Wisconsin helped out. Knowing everyone else was going through the same thing, I just kept reminding myself to stay in aero, and stay focused. That being said, my second loop was 11 minutes slower than the first, watts were less than 60%, and rolling through town, I thought my day was done coming off the bike.

 

Run (3:12:45)
Coming out of T2, I got to see Michelle and the ladies before heading out on the run. Luckily, the first three miles downhill, I was able to get rejuvenate a bit. Making the turn on Riverside Drive, I was starting to feel pretty good and was holding between 7 and 7:15 min/mile. Counting bibs, my best estimate was that I was 24th non-Pro at the first turn around. Most of the people I passed were either walking through aid stations or up hills. Making the climb up to Mirror Lake Drive, I went from 14th to 10th, and picked up two more on the out and back, such that by the time I merged with traffic to heading out on the second loop my best guess was that I was in 8th for the non-Pros.

 

At this point I knew I was golden so long as I kept moving forward and didn’t get passed. Back down the hill, mile 16 was were I found the volunteer of the day. I don’t know who she was, or really remember what she looked like, but this girl ran me down and brought me a cup of coke because they didn’t have one ready at the table when I passed through. By mile 18, it had really started to hurt and I walked through my first aid station. The hills leading into town were brutal the second time around. I managed to run the first one, but the 2nd one it was run 15 paces, walk 15 paces. After a few cycles, I was up the hill with just 2 miles to go.

 

Coming down that last stretch I was spent, but almost home. Stepping onto the Oval was where, for the first time in 25.9 miles, I got passed. Are you KIDDING? Where did this guy even come from! No way was I missing this slot again, and I hightailed it for the finish line. Last 300 m at a 6 min/mi pace to finish off almost a 10 hour day with a final time of 9:50:20, placing 16th overall, third in my age group, and a slot to compete in Kona.

 

I’ve enjoyed a humungous amount of support from family, friends and fellow racers. I especially have to thank my mom, Michelle, Aunt Mae and Elaine for making the trip to Lake Placid to stand around in the heat all day cheering me on! Jeffrey Capobianco, I really can’t thank you enough for all the great coaching. I couldn’t have done it without you all. Also, big congrats to all the other racers out there. It was a really tough day to be out on that course and everyone finished strong.

 

Oh, yea, and Monday, Michelle ended up signing up for 2013!

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